20/11/2023
Like many of you my heart has been heavy all weekend thinking about the tragic event at Goolwa Beach on Friday night resulting in the death of 18 year old Charlie Stevens. I can’t stop thinking about the pain his family are going through and will go through forever. There are no words. His school friends, his sporting teams, his workmates and also the wider community are all in shock and saddened by this tragic and unexpected event. My older kids played sport and socialised sometimes with Charlie, and they thought he was a great kid. My heart also feels heavy for the 18 year old driver arrested and for his parents and friends who are going through unimaginable pain too. So senseless, so sad and sadly so easy to happen. People make mistakes, make dumb decisions and they can result in the worst possible outcome like this. So today I put down the tools, ignored the jobs and hung out with my 19 year old Sid. We sat in the sun and drank lemonade and chatted about life and death and Charlie and all the terrible things like Gaza and Ukraine and poverty and famine and domestic violence and how tough life can be. It wasn’t a happy discussion, but perhaps it helped reinforce the fact that we’re bloody lucky to live in Australia. We’re lucky we have good social supports and communities/organisations who care for others. We’re lucky we’re free to believe what we want without persecution. We’re lucky to have mostly good political leadership who work hard to keep our country out of trouble. Mostly, I’ve been reminded this weekend about how lucky I am to have people in my life whom I love and who love me back. We all need to cherish these relationships because life is a precious gift which can turn on a dime…
My husband is an Intensive Care Specialst so sees this stuff regularly and it governs the way he lives his life. But for the rest of us, it can come as a shock as we get bogged down in the everyday forget how precious life actually is. Charlie’s death has hit hard because it’s so close to home for many of us, we all feel we know his dad Grant and because it was an accident that was so easy to happen.
So drink the lemonade, eat the ice cream, create memories, be kind to each other and never forget to tell somebody you love them.
My condolences to the Stevens family and RIP Charlie x
