Snowbound

Trail of Clothing Led Searchers to Lost Father's Body

I started following this story on Monday when a mother and two children were rescued from their snowbound car. My first thought was, "That's why I live where it's warm." But, after I read the article and saw that the father had left the car two days earlier to go for help, I couldn't stop thinking about that family. Before he left them, they had already been stranded for days with no food. The car was out of gas, so they couldn't run the heater any longer. They must have been desperate for him to set out into the snow without even a coat.

In the first stories, the searchers sounded hopeful that they would find him even though temperatures were dropping well below freezing each night. They starting finding his belongings and pieces of clothing and believed he was leaving a trail for them to follow. But they didn't find him in time. He died alone in the wilderness not knowing if his family would ever be saved.

Terrible, unthinkable things happen to people every day, everywhere in the world. I don't know why this story makes me want to sob every time I think about it. I guess this small tragedy is such a tiny example in a world of suffering that my mind can actually absorb it.

They just wanted to take a nice vacation. They ended up in a horror story.

How did they say goodbye before he left that car?

Did they have any idea it might be the last time they ever saw each other ?

What was she thinking as she waited?

What was he thinking as he walked?

When did he realize he was going to die?

How many times, in her mind, will she see his back as he walked away?