VALRICO, Fla. - Kimberly Jahn’s lost count of the amount of hours she’s spent at this softball field.
If you add together the years she played for Bloomingdale and then the years she spent watching her daughter Lauren play for the Bulls, it’s a lot.
“Between all four years and, oh gosh, I’ve never done that,” Jahn said. “You’re making me do math on the fly. That is so mean."
A lot memories were made on this field. And every year, Jahn comes back because that’s all she has of her daughter - memories. Those memories come flooding back whenever the Bulls honor their former teammate who was taken way too early.
“It’s touching,” Jahn said. “I’m blessed that the coaches are former teammates of hers that don’t forget. It’s hard to watch everybody’s lives move on and hers is just frozen in time.”
Lauren Phillips touched a lot of lives in her short time on this earth. The Bloomingdale Bulls pitcher was the ultimate teammate who made everyone feel welcome.
“When I was a freshman, actually, she made me feel more comfortable,” former Bloomingdale catcher Samantha Selden said. “Because when you’re a freshman, you have to earn your place, you have to prove yourself and she made me feel more relaxed.”
“She was so goofy in real life but when she got on the mound, she turned into this other person and put her game face on,” Jahn said.
Lauren’s mom is the one who has to put on a game face now.
On March 28, 2014, after playing in a game with her South Florida State College team, Lauren and two of her friends were struck head on by a drunk driver. All four involved in the accident were killed. Jahn awoke to every parent’s worst nightmare.
“Doorbell rings about 4:14 in the morning and two state troopers asking if I have a 19-year-old daughter named Lauren Phillips,” Jahn recalled. “All these things that when you give birth to a child you predict are just going to happen, are all of sudden they’re gone.”
Left behind, loved ones who somehow find a way to go on. Six weeks after Lauren was killed, Bloomingdale won it’s second softball state championship. She would have loved that.
“She might have been the most uplifting person I think I’ve ever met.,” Selden said. “She just made you feel loved and that no matter what you were going through she would bring you up and make you feel instantly better.”
When you lose a spouse, you’re called a widow. When you lose your parents, you’re called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child. But there is a common wish.
“I will say the No. 1 fear of a parent who has lost a child is that their child will be forgotten,” Jahn said. “So that’s very important to me that her legacy live on.
“It’s very touching that they honor her in this way and keep her memory alive.”