Yes, guys, Mike did leave behind children. Three, actually. I'm one of them. My name is Jennifer Michele (he chose my first and middle name, and he loved it so much, said it was the most beautiful name in the world) and I'm 21 years old. What makes the story really sad, though, is that I haven't seen my dad since I was four. He and my mother split up then, and I didn't know him for almost fifteen years. I found him online, contacted him in 2003, and we began a relationship over the phone and internet. He was always planning to come to TN to reunite with me, but something always seemed to come up and those plans would get cancelled. I found out about the accident two days later, when his sister (my aunt) called me. I flew out immediately for the funeral, angry the entire way that this was how I was going to meet him. My two younger brothers, Chris and Chase, didn't go. They hadn't ever really had the oppurtunity to form much of a relationship with him. I met my Aunt Genita and his wife, Arlynn, for the first time at the funeral home. It was the beginning of a very hard three days.
I got up and spoke in front of a room full of people that I had never met. I don't remember much of it, but the big thing that was weighing on my heart after this incident was the same then as it is now. Do not procrastinate. If you have plans that you keep putting off, especially if they relate to our story at all... make the time for them. I never got to really know him. I never had my Oprah-like reunion with him, which is something that I dreamed about for years.
I have to say, I had no idea this page even existed. I was just cruising around the net, and I came across it, and discovered a page dedicated to him. You don't know what it means to me to know that there were people out there praying for us. I haven't cried since the day I found out about the accident, and you guys have me sitting in my cubicle at work, crying like I haven't in so long.
Once again, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We needed them.
