I have grown up living by the quote, "Everything happens for a reason" constantly telling myself that even if I do not know what that reason is yet, God's plan was set for me a long time ago.

This quote has always kept me going, I had used it to help me through heartbreak, failed friendships, awful test grades, plans that fall through, and such...but on July 17th, 2015, my perspective on this quote changed forever.

Every year my family goes to the beach with around 70 of our family members; it's a tradition we have kept going for the past 50 plus years. This year me, my boyfriend Matt, my sisters Frankie and Addie, and our friend Hannah decided to drive from where we live, about an hour south of Atlanta, Georgia, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina by ourselves in Matt's car.

We stopped for lunch at Bojangles in Augusta, Ga, and then went on our way, not too long after this happened we had all fallen asleep (except for Matt of course), until suddenly we all woke up from him slamming on his breaks in the middle of the interstate.

My youngest sister who was sitting on my side of the car said "you guys, I think that I just saw a man roll in the road." The car in front of us pulled over, and we all saw a man lying in the middle of the interstate. We immediately pulled over the car, and Matt, Hannah, and Frankie ran up to see what was going on, I sat in the car and told my youngest sister Addie, (who is 15 but looks 12) that she needed to stay in the car, to keep it running and lock the doors.

When I got out, Matt and Hannah ran back to the car to find a shirt, they said the man in the road was bleeding very badly and they needed something to apply pressure with.

I got out of the car, and made my way to where the accident had occurred, which might I add was only about 2 cars in front of us on the interstate. When I got there I looked around me, I saw Matt directing traffic, a man lying on the ground unresponsive with his right leg almost completely severed from his body, and Hannah applying pressure while other pedestrians stood around him; a man had even taken off his shirt to put it under his head.

I saw two men standing on the side of the road next to a truck, one woman pacing around on the phone, and another woman screaming bloody murder with nothing but a random man holding her wrist so she couldn't move, smoking a cigarette. By the looks of the huge ring on her finger, I knew she had to be the wife of the man on the ground. I will never ever forget her screams, and cries, telling him to stay with her, "Stay with me Sparky" she would call him.

I immediately knew if I was in that situation, I would not want to be handled by some random man holding a cigarette, I would want another woman by my side. I remembered seeing on Ellen one day that holding someone tight would help to calm them down, so after much contemplation with my conscience on what to do considering I had absolutely no idea who this woman was, I walked up, and grabbed her and just hugged her. I told her I was here and she said "What's your name? I'm Kellie."

I told her my name, and asked her all I knew, "Do you know the Lord?" She told me yes, I do but I don't go to church as much as I should. I told her that didn't matter and asked if I could pray with her, she said yes, and before I could say a word she started praying a prayer that in my opinion, could top any preacher I have ever heard.

She pulled away from me, and asked me "Where are my kids? You've got to check on my kids!" She pointed in the way of a white van across the road, where I saw two young girls looking our way, I talked Kellie into walking over to them, on the way I told her she had to be a strong momma, and show her kids that she was okay.

The second we got there the two girls hugged their mom, asking her if their daddy was okay, she told them she didn't know and that she would have to go back now. They immediately grabbed onto me, and hugged me, a complete stranger as tight as they could. I stayed with them, and when I looked inside of the van I saw a younger little boy, he looked at me in the face, and asked me "Is my daddy dead?"

All I could tell him was that no matter what everything is going to be okay. The paramedics still had not arrived at this point, and some of us could not even get through to a 911 operator because of the large amount of people dialing. The boy was Max, he was 4 and adorable, the middle was Rylie was 9, she plays softball, and you could tell she is the princess of the family.

The oldest, Maddison was 12, she plays soccer, she was tough, and very independent; she wouldn't stop pacing back and forth long enough to speak a full sentence to me, but I tried. I learned as long as I could keep Rylie and Max's attention, that could make them smile, and even laugh, however if they focused too hard on the accident, or the screams from their mom, they would begin crying again.

Rylie would bury her head into my chest and I just held her knowing there wasn't a thing I could say to make things better. She looked at me and said "Vacation's ruined." I learned that they were headed to Myrtle Beach exactly like we were, they were traveling from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a long awaited vacation. After what seemed like 15 minutes of standing with the kids, Kellie ran back over to the car and said "He's dead, he is gone, we lost him." Which seems blunt but under that much adrenaline there's no telling how much was going through her head.

Maddison threw her water bottle on the ground, fell to her knees and started beating the ground, Rylie grabbed me, buried her face in my chest, then climbed into the back of the car, and I slowly backed up, and walked away. I could not let them see me grieve over something that has nothing to do with me, it wouldn't be fair.

Matt, Hannah, Frankie and I walked back to the car, quietly with our heads down. You see while I watched the kids, they watched this man take his last breath. We all have our own perspectives of that day, we all tell our story differently because we all saw it differently. We drove away and sat in silence for about 45 minutes before Matt decided to speak, he said what we were all thinking, "I wish we knew who they were."

We were all in need of some sort of closure, these people who we had never met or seen had just become some of the most important people in our lives. All we knew was Kellie was the mother and wife, and her sister, Kristy was there along with Kellie's three kids. We also knew they were from Pittsburgh, and that she kept calling the man Sparky.

We did not want to go on vacation anymore knowing that they could not made it very hard to be happy, we had just been driving down the road, radio blasted, singing songs and laughing, but at that point we did not know what to do. We went to a shopping mall where we killed some time, and all of the sudden one of us found a news report; we found their name, and that the man, Dave, had passed.

Later that night we found Kellie on Facebook, I personally felt so guilty being so upset because I wasn't the one hurting, but honestly I couldn't even sleep that night. Flashbacks of the accident would happen every time I shut my eyes, it was terrible, and even more terrible thinking about what that family was going through. Enjoying our vacation while they had to cancel theirs because they just lost their husband and daddy was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

We eventually re-connected on Facebook, we talk to each other on a regular basis and can not wait for the day we get to see each other again. I am sure you were wondering what actually happened to Dave; the luggage on top of their van had fallen off, he pulled over to go retrieve it and a man swerved and hit him in the process. After living off of my favorite quote, "Everything happens for a reason" my entire life, though I have told other people that we may not know that reason yet, I had never had to say it to myself.

I have absolutely no idea why God put Matt, Frankie, Addie, Hannah and I there that day, why we left two hours later than we planned that morning, or stopped for lunch when we did. I know that my life has forever been changed by that day, Kellie is one of the strongest people I know, and I will forever love her and her family as some of the closest people to my heart.

Everything happens for a reason, and while we may not know what that reason is yet, we may never know, God's plan is bigger than any reason we will ever come up with, trust HIM.

From what I have read and heard Dave was an incredible husband, father, friend, and servant. He lived with a purpose and that purpose was that life is short, so don't worry and be happy.

Rest in Peace, Dave

xoxo, Casey