LIFE AFTER DEATH
Joi to Joy: A Journey to healing
Eddie Price and his daughter, Aisha, at her wedding. Price’s youngest daughter, Joi, (right) was killed in a car accident 10 years ago.
By Eddie Price Jr.
t was April 22, 2002. It was on a Monday— the hardest most stressful day in my work world as the manager of the Illinois Department of Human Services Office of the Inspector General Hotline in Springfield. The 24hour hotline only had emergency staff on call through the weekend and Monday’s challenge was compacting the two-day backlog from the weekend into a third day of calls from citizens reporting potential abuse and neglect of adults. I knew no end time for my day, but leaving by 6:30 in the evening was a good day. April 22 was a good day and I went to The Well Magazine / Winter 2012
I
the Y for a workout before going home for dinner. I got home a little after 8:30 p.m., hungry but less stressed from the workout. As I came in my phone was ringing and the light message was blinking. I heard the voice of my friend and spiritual brother, Rev. Bobbie Timms. In as calm a voice as you would want to hear anything, Timms said, “Brother Price, Joi has been in an accident and is at the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.” When I called him back, I could hear my former wife, Mary, Joi’s mother crying in the background and I asked what he knew about my 19-year-old daughter’s condition and why was Mary crying. He told me that all they knew was that the accident was serious and that the hospital was waiting for my call. When I called the hospital, they advised that I needed to get there as soon as possible, and they told me that they had been in contact with airlines in St. Louis and Chi14