Grieving Widow And Mother Speaks Out Against Drunk Driving

Destiny and Corey were high school sweethearts. After three blissful years of dating, the couple got married and welcomed a baby boy into the world. Parker was born on June 23, 2013. But on September 20, 2014, life changed in an instant.

Destiny, Corey and Parker were driving to an appointment when another driver slammed into their minivan. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the woman who hit them was under the influence of alcohol.

Baby Parker was killed at the scene. Less than 24 hours later, Corey passed away at the hospital. The woman who hit them also lost her life; Destiny, now 22 years old, was the only survivor. On the one-year anniversary of the horrible accident, Destiny took to Facebook to share her earth-shattering story. She never expected her message to go viral, but it did.

Now, Destiny is hoping to spread awareness about drinking and driving so other families don’t have to experience such a nightmare.

Scroll down to hear what she has to say, and why her note is spreading like wildfire…

“A year ago today was like many other days. Corey Mantia woke up and went to work. Parker and I stayed at home and played together all day. Corey later came home played with our sweet baby as we waited to load up for a wrap appointment. That spare cash was much needed for our little family. Well time comes for us to leave.

Little did we know in a few short minutes everything would change.”

“We would no longer get to live our future together. Any dreams we had would no longer happen together. We wouldn’t get to purchase our first house together, we wouldn’t get to take Parker for his first hair cut, his first day at school, and our family would never grow. This would be it. Everything we would have ever known would come to an end and not by choice.”


“On our way to this wrap appointment my amazing husband whom was driving, my precious baby whom I still nursed and kept rear facing watching Mickey Mouse Club house, and I were struck nearly head on at an excessive speed by a drunk driver. This is a date and time that will forever be embedded in my head. The action of this one selfish person who thought they were ‘ok’ to drive instantly took the life of my sweet innocent 15 month old son in the back seat.

She would cause my husband and I to be air lifted from the scene where my husband would loose his fight 24 hours later. She would cause a family to be devastated and emergency personnel to need counseling.”

“One selfish decision to drink and drive caused me to be a widow and a mom to an angel at the age of 21. She has caused many nightmares with the news of various reports being released such as an autopsy of my baby being sent to me or many reconstruction pictures. Many things a 21 year old should never have to see or imagine. She ended any dreams that we may have had together and caused pain I never knew existed.”


“That day the Destiny that was a mom and wife died as well. I’ve sense had to find myself. I never knew the strength I could pull out that I never knew I had. I think I was able to find this strength through the prayers and support of many friends and family and also an amazing widows group who kept me knowing I was normal for feeling how I felt.”

“This hurt, pain and our future could of all been prevented if someone would have stepped up and stopped this selfish woman from drinking and driving. You can save someone’s life too! Don’t allow your friends and family drink and drive. Don’t share DUI checkpoints. Be an advocate! Stand up with me! Let’s stop this. One is too many. DONT DRINK AND DRIVE!”


This is such a heartbreaking yet powerful story. If you agree, please SHARE Destiny’s note with your friends on Facebook.

Top 20 Most Famous Love Stories in History and Literature

HISTORY*

Do you believe in true love? Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in love lasting forever? I think that these love stories will renew or reinforce your faith in love... They are the most famous love stories in history and literature, they are immortal.

1. Romeo and Juliet

This is probably the most famous lovers ever. This couple has become a synonym for love itself. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Their love story is very tragic. The tale of two teenagers from two feuding families who fall in love at first sight and then marry, become true lovers and then risk it all for their love. To take your own life for your husband or wife is definitely a sign of true love. Their "untimely deaths" ultimately unite their feuding households.

10 Ways to Have Peaceful, Loving Relationships

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~Dalai Lama

Though Valentine’s Day is coming up next month, this is not a post about romance. It’s about any relationship—with your brother, your mother, your coworker, or your friend.

And I admit I am not an expert.

I’ve made a million and one mistakes in relationships. I’ve expected too much. Or not asked for what I needed in fear of rocking the boat. I’ve been competitive. I’ve been suspicious. I’ve been dependent. I’d like to think what redeems me from all these mistakes is that I’ve also been honest.

Being self aware, in my opinion, is far more valuable than being perfect—mostly because the former is attainable and helpful, while the latter is neither.

Relationships are not easy. They mirror everything we feel about ourselves. When you’ve had a bad day, the people around you seem difficult. When you’re not happy with yourself, your relationships seem to be lacking.

If you’ve ever gotten in a fight only to find yourself wondering what you were really upset about, this post may help you. If you’ve ever been disappointed because someone didn’t meet your expectations, this post may help you, too. Feel walked on and unheard? You guessed it—there’s likely something in here that will help you change that.

We don’t live in a vacuum. We have thoughts and feelings that can be confusing. Other people do too. And just like in the movie Crash, they don’t always collide smoothly.

When I apply these ideas, I feel confident, strong, compassionate, and peaceful in my interactions. I hope they can do the same for you.

1. Do what you need to do for you.

Everyone has personal needs, whether it’s going to the gym after work or taking some alone time on Saturday morning. If someone asks you to do something and your instinct is to honor you own need, do that. I’m not saying you can’t make sacrifices sometimes, but it’s important to make a habit of taking care of yourself. 

Someone once told me people are like glasses of water. If we don’t do what we have to do to keep our glass full, we’ll need to take it from someone else—which leaves them half full. Fill your own glass so you can feel whole and complete in your relationships.

2. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

It’s tempting to doubt people—to assume your boyfriend meant to hurt you by not inviting you out with his friends, or your friend meant to make you feel inadequate by flaunting her money. People who care about you want you to feel happy, even if sometimes they get too wrapped up in their own problems to show it well.

Sometimes they may be hurtful and mean it—let’s not pretend we’re all angels. But that won’t be the norm. It will likely be when they’re hurting and don’t know what to do with it. Odds are they’ll feel bad and apologize later. If you want to get good will, share it by seeing the best in the people you love. When we assume the best, we often inspire it.

3. Look at yourself for the problem first.

When you feel unhappy with yourself, it’s easy to find something wrong in a relationship. If you blame another person for what you’re feeling, the solution is on them. But this is actually faulty logic. For starters, it gives them all the control. And secondly, it usually doesn’t solve the problem, since you didn’t actually address the root cause.

Next time you feel the need to blame someone for your feelings—something they did or should have done—ask yourself if there’s something else going on. You may find there’s something underlying: something you did or should have done for you. Take responsibility for the problem and you have power to create a solution.

4. Be mindful of projecting.

In psychology, projecting refers to denying your own traits and then ascribing them to the outside world or other people. For example, if you’re not a loyal and trusting friend, you may assume your friends are all out to get you. It’s a defense mechanism that allows you to avoid the discomfort of acknowledging your weaknesses. There’s no faster way to put a rift in your relationships.

This comes back to down to self awareness, and it’s hard work. Acknowledging your flaws isn’t fun, but if you don’t, you’ll continue seeing them in everyone around you. And you’ll continue to hurt. Next time you see something negative in someone else, ask yourself if it’s true for you. It might not be, but if it is, identifying it can help create peace in that relationship.

5. Choose your battles.

Everyone knows someone who makes everything a fight. If you question them about something, you can expect an argument. If you comment on something they did, you’ll probably get yelled at. Even a compliment could create a confrontation. Some people just like to fight—maybe to channel negativity they’re carrying around about the world or themselves.

On the one hand, you have to tell people when there’s something bothering you. That’s the only way to address problems. On the other hand, you don’t have to let everything bother you. When I’m not sure if I need to bring something up, I ask myself these few questions:

Does this happen often and leave me feeling bad?
Does this really matter in the grand scheme of things?
Can I empathize with their feelings instead of dwelling on my insecurity?
6. Confront compassionately and clearly.

When you attack someone, their natural instinct is to get defensive, which gets you nowhere. You end up having a loud conversation where two people do their best to prove they’re right and the other one is wrong. It’s rarely that black and white. It’s more likely you both have points, but you’re both too stubborn to meet in the middle.

If you approach someone with compassion, you will open their hearts and minds. Show them you understand where they’re coming from, and they’ll be willing to see your side. That gives you a chance to express yourself and your expectations clearly. And when you let people know what you need at the right time in the right way, they’re more likely to give that to you.

7. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.

There are all kinds of ways you can feel vulnerable in relationships: When you express your feelings for someone else. When you’re honest about yourself or your past. When you admit you made a mistake. We don’t always do these things because we want to maintain a sense of power.

Power allows us a superficial sense of control, whereas true, vulnerable being allows us a sense of authenticity. That’s love: being your true self and allowing someone else to do the same without letting fear and judgment tear it down. It’s like Jimi Hendrix said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”

8. Think before acting on emotion.

This one is the hardest for me. As soon as I feel hurt, frustrated, or angry, I want to do something with it—which is always a bad idea. I’ve realized my initial emotional reaction does not always reflect how I really feel about something. Initially, I might feel scared or angry, but once I calm down and think things through, I often realize I overreacted.

When you feel a strong emotion, try to sit it for a while. Don’t use it or run from it—just feel it. When you learn to observe your feelings before acting on them, you minimize the negativity you create in two ways: you process, analyze, and deal with feelings before putting them on someone else; and you communicate in a way that inspires them to stay open instead of shutting down.

9. Maintain boundaries.

When people get close, boundaries can get fuzzy. In a relationship without boundaries, you let the other person manipulate you into doing things you don’t want to do. You act out of guilt instead of honoring your needs. You let someone offend you without telling them how you feel about it. The best way to ensure people treat you how you want to be treated is to teach them.

That means you have to love and respect yourself enough to do that: to acknowledge what you need, and speak up. The only way to truly have loving, peaceful relationships is to start with a loving, peaceful relationship with yourself.

10. Enjoy their company more than their approval.

When you desperately need someone’s approval, your relationship becomes all about what they do for you—how often they stroke your ego, how well they bring you up when you feel down, how well they mitigate your negative feelings. This is draining for another person, and it creates an unbalanced relationship.