"Big girls don't cry," Sarah's mother always told her when she was a child, back when skinned knees or playground arguments were tragedies.

Don't think about her, don't think about how she died.

"Be brave, this will only hurt for a minute."

White-hot agony from the shrapnel in her leg drowned out by the realization that Kyle is dead.

"It's not the end of the world," was another favorite of her mother's.

August 29, 1997. Her life has become a countdown.

"One day, when you're a mother, you'll understand."

Oh, John, I'm so sorry for everything you'll have to face.