tonyhds
5th April 2005, 00:06
One year ago today, I rode my new 2 month old Sportster out to the Texas Motor Speedway to watch the Nascar race. I had attended every Nascar race at TMS since the track opened in 1997. This year was special, I was riding my brand new Sportster to the races !
It was a slightly cool morning when I left the house that Sunday morning about 7 am. It was a wonderfull Texas day, sunshine, blue skys and very little wind. I got to the track and they let motorcycles park in the very front row, a mere 50 ft from the gate in front of the section i was sitting in.
The race was great, seats were great, everything was perfect !
Soon as the race was over, I strapped my stuff to the bike, got my helmet on, and was out of there before the traffic could back up, which it does very quickly. There is no good way for 200,000 race fans to leave at one time.
In past years it took aprox. 3 hrs to get home from the 60 mile trip.
So I havn't stop smiling or grinning all day long, It was one of the best days ever at the nascar races. I pull into my driveway and noticed there sure are a lot of people and cars at our house. I pull into the garage, take off my helmet and ask my son whats going on ?
My son tells me that my step-daughter Shanna was found murdered around 8 am earlier the same day. She was 26 years old. She was found in a bad part of Dallas and was beaten to death, no doubt in the wrong place with the wrong people. My family had decided not to call me on my cell phone to give me the news, for fear of how upset I would be and riding the Sportster home in heavy traffic, and there would be nothing I could do the change the news.
So now devastated and shocked, I go inside and see my wife, Shanna's mother, and try to console her. My great day at the races and on my new Sportster in a heart beat turned into a parents worst nightmare.
You should never outlive your children, and as I refect on today, one year ago today, the details of that amazing day are so very happy and so amazingly sad. I hope Shanna is in a better place.
Her murder remains unsolved
It was a slightly cool morning when I left the house that Sunday morning about 7 am. It was a wonderfull Texas day, sunshine, blue skys and very little wind. I got to the track and they let motorcycles park in the very front row, a mere 50 ft from the gate in front of the section i was sitting in.
The race was great, seats were great, everything was perfect !
Soon as the race was over, I strapped my stuff to the bike, got my helmet on, and was out of there before the traffic could back up, which it does very quickly. There is no good way for 200,000 race fans to leave at one time.
In past years it took aprox. 3 hrs to get home from the 60 mile trip.
So I havn't stop smiling or grinning all day long, It was one of the best days ever at the nascar races. I pull into my driveway and noticed there sure are a lot of people and cars at our house. I pull into the garage, take off my helmet and ask my son whats going on ?
My son tells me that my step-daughter Shanna was found murdered around 8 am earlier the same day. She was 26 years old. She was found in a bad part of Dallas and was beaten to death, no doubt in the wrong place with the wrong people. My family had decided not to call me on my cell phone to give me the news, for fear of how upset I would be and riding the Sportster home in heavy traffic, and there would be nothing I could do the change the news.
So now devastated and shocked, I go inside and see my wife, Shanna's mother, and try to console her. My great day at the races and on my new Sportster in a heart beat turned into a parents worst nightmare.
You should never outlive your children, and as I refect on today, one year ago today, the details of that amazing day are so very happy and so amazingly sad. I hope Shanna is in a better place.
Her murder remains unsolved