JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

This will be the second New Year’s holiday that David and Jennifer Beaird will experience since the Labor Day 2016 vehicular homicide that took the lives of their two children — 13-year-old Gavin and 7-year-old Chloe — and left David confined to a wheelchair.

And although they suffered a wound that no amount of time will heal, the Beairds, I am glad to report, are doing significantly better as they turn their calendar to 2018.

They have left Missouri and started a new life in upstate New York, where Jennifer is from and where some members of her family live. After selling their house in Warrenton, they purchased a house outside the Town of Canajoharie, about an hour west of Albany, and moved in about two months ago.

It’s got three bedrooms, hardwood floors (good for David’s motorized wheelchair) and a fireplace.

Also to David’s liking are the nearby outdoor attractions, including woods, trails and the Mohawk River. Not far away are the Catskill Mountains to the south and the Adirondacks to the north.

Jennifer and David in a recent photo submitted by David

David has always been an outdoorsman — a hunter and fisherman — and his last job was patrolling power lines in three St. Louis area counties. Although he can’t go deep into the woods any more, he has been exploring the area in his wheelchair, going up and down hills and checking out ball fields and other points of interest.

The biggest advantage for Jennifer is being close to family, including two brothers who helped with renovations to the house they bought.

Having a house that meets their physical (wheelchair friendly) and emotional (away from the state that holds bitter memories for them) has been a godsend.

“It’s been great,” David said. “It works for both of us.”

Their home in upstate New York

As she did in Warrenton, Jennifer is doing season work for H & R Bloch. She also continues to handle the payroll for a hotel-refurbishing company one of her brothers has in New York City.

David’s health is good and he has taken up a new hobby — photography. “That’s going to keep me busy for a while,” he said.

Of course, they still think often of their children and, as David said, “we have our ups and downs.”

The important thing now, however, is that they are resettled in a place where they want to be — a place that is comfortable and soothing for them — and where they can get a new fresh start on a life that turned tragic — in an instant 15 months ago on I-70.

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I am intentionally not rehashing the details of the tragic crash that changed the course of David and Jennifer’s lives and stripped them of the joy of raising their two children and watching them grow into adulthood. If you want a refresher on what happened that fateful day, you can find it in a blog I posted last February and in a few other posts I have written since. (Just enter their last name in the search box and you’ll find all the posts about them.)

This New Year’s Day is about hope for renewed happiness for a couple that has been through, as David put it in our conversation, something “most people wouldn’t go through in two lifetimes.”

I’m sure I speak for all readers of this blog when I say, “Happy New Year,” David and Jennifer!

May 2018 see you healthy and with newfound peace of mind and soul.