CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wisc. - Just two weeks after throwing her granddaughter Haylee's 10th birthday party, all unicorns and rainbows, Judy Schneider is now planning her funeral.
“I'd say reality hit, but it's not here yet,” Schneider said.
And the hole in Judy's family is even bigger, because the same tragedy that took Judy's granddaughter also took her daughter, Sara.
“It's just, going to take a long time. A real long time,” Schneider said.
Sara and Haylee were picking up trash Saturday with Haylee's Girl Scout Troop when a truck veered into the ditch, killing them and two other girls.
Judy will always remember Haylee as a quirky little girl.
“She had her own train of thought on her own tracks,” Schneider said.
She’ll remember Haylee as a budding artist who got her talent from her mother, who loved participating in Haylee's activities.
“They'd go on field trips and she would just learn things along with them,” Schneider said.
But Judy also won't forget what Sara’s 6-year-old son Jasper said when she broke the news about his mom and sister.
“I talked to him about it. And then I tried to tell him again. And his response was, maybe if the doctors work a little longer, sometimes God will let them come back to us. And I had to tell him, the doctors aren't working anymore,” Schneider said.
Her family will now work to make sure Sara and Haylee’s memory is always in Jasper's heart. As the whole family prepares to deal with the hole left in theirs.
“I don't think we all realize how big that hole really is yet,” Schneider said.