How did this happen?

[sasha]

Thanks, Doreen. Her mother was driving at the time, and got pretty banged up, too - walking pretty gingerly around the house - "as if she'd been in an accident" I wrote in my journal at the time. She'd gripped the steering wheel so tightly at the moment of impact that she'd bent it out of round. Becky had been belted in at the time, but had twisted around to talk to a school friend in the backseat, and somehow slipped out of the shoulder harness, & was thrown against the dashboard, accounting for the bruising on her face.

What I remember more intensely was the night we broke the news to Becky that we were splitting up. She was 7 at the time, and was devastated. Crying, raging, pummeling us with her fists - I felt as if I'd sat her down and started taking a hammer to her. I was barely able to hold it together myself, but didn't do a very good job at it. It was awful....