LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Heather Harlin’s life won’t ever be the same. A piece of her died along a stretch of Mason Headley Road earlier this week, when her daughter Makenzie was killed in a car accident.
“They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. I’m going to cherish those 21 years; every minute of them” Heather said on Friday while holding Makenzie’s 13-month-old daughter.
“I’d say the hardest part with her, is that she is not going to remember (her mother),” Heather said. “I’m going to tell her, we’re all going to tell her, but mentally there will be no memory,” she continued. I’d survive this if she wasn’t here, but it makes it 100% easier having her,” Heather added.
Heather said Makenzie was a great mother, and she will try to honor her memory by being even better to her own children who are grown now.
Makenzie’s grandmother Carol lives just a few houses away, and she and her husband were always a huge part of Makenzie’s life.
“He (my husband) would pick her up after daycare and I’d come home and they’d be here either reading a book, sound asleep, or watching The Horse Whisperer for the 14th time,” Carol said. She said her husband of 48 years, who passed away just a few years ago, worshipped his granddaughter, Makenzie.
Now, a terrible stroke of fate has brought them together for this Christmas, which for Heather will be impossible to navigate this year.
“I bought her a necklace that says, “I love you to the moon and back,” because that’s what my dad always said to her. “The last two Christmases were hard without my daddy. Now it’s just… I’ll do my best, but it’ll never be the same again.
Perhaps Heather’s greatest display of strength was revealed when discussing the accident itself.
“It was an accident. I don’t want that man to live the rest of his life thinking he did anything wrong, because he did not,” Heather said. And she asked the accident investigator to relay that message to the driver of the other vehicle.
“As a mother you want somebody to blame. But I don’t want him to think for one second that I hold any ill will towards him.”
If you would like to donate to Makenzie's daughter's college fund, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/college-fund-for-daughter-of-makenzie-harlin [gofundme.com]
