Dad Slept in Son’s Bunk Bed for Months After Wife and Daughter Died in Disastrous Plane Crash

11 minutes ago

“I really feel like part of me died when they died," he says, sharing that navigating the past year without two of the most important people in his life has been tremendously difficult for both him and his 7-year-old son Kallen.

Transcript

00:00I just, because my life got blown up like this, I really feel like part of me died when they died, right?

00:07And so I feel like I'm living like this second life is the best way to describe it.

00:16The beginning of like right after was just survival.

00:19Like I didn't work at all until like March, right?

00:24It took me a while to even get my stuff together to like plan the funeral.

00:28Watching your family be put into the ground is like, I don't know, it was one of the worst things and I was just so angry.

00:35That was the first time I had really felt anger, you know?

00:39It was just sort of like disgusting to watch your daughter go into the ground.

00:43I don't know how else to describe it.

00:45My son saw me cry and that's good for him, but it's also hard for him because he doesn't, it's overwhelming to him.

00:52He's traumatized too.

00:53Over the summer, like he finally kind of opened up about how sad he was.

00:57He was, you know, he used to be scared to go to bed and I think that's because the big feelings would come up at bedtime.

01:03And then we came up with this ritual as part of his like bedtime routine to look at pictures and videos together for five minutes every night and share memories.

01:11The first three months I slept in the bottom bunk of his bunk bed because when he used to go to sleep, his mom used to crawl in.

01:19She was tiny, right?

01:19And so she would crawl in the top bunk with him and snuggle with him.

01:22And so like, I didn't want to leave him alone.

01:25They were just people that you wanted to be around, that they were people that brought joy to other people's lives.

01:34You know, Brielle was someone where the girls would jump out of their seats when she showed up at the rink.

01:39And that, you know, my late wife was as supportive as a mother that you could ask for, right?

01:46Her and I dedicated our lives to building a family and raising the kids and helping them achieve their dreams and trying to provide unconditional love and happiness.