Guy at McDonald's

Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world. This means that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. The day following the news of my daughter's death I experienced this phenomenon first hand.
My friend Kim came by to visit and delivered some rather shocking news. I was still in such a fog that I didn't even understand what she was saying at first. Apparently her daughter, Lauren, had been hanging out with friends and eating a late meal in the parking lot of a local McDonald's on the night my daughter Lauren was killed. While sitting on the back tailgate of a friend's truck Lauren witnessed a heated exchange between the manager of the McDonald's and an angry customer. The squabble became escalated enough to draw her attention. She was so concerned about the man getting back into his car in such a hostile mood that she jotted down his license plate number to provide the manager who had stated he planned to inform the police This man was the driver of the car that lost control, crossed the median and struck the vehicle head on that my daughter was riding in that fateful night.
As I sat on my couch listening to Kim tell me the events that had transpired earlier in the evening the night my daughter died I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My head was spinning.Thoughts of concern for her daughter pressed to the forefront of my mind. How was she dealing with this?
Traveling into the land of "what ifs" is a straight, narrow and slippery slope my friend. I have diligently forced myself not to travel that road and I was now praying that Kim's daughter was not heading in that direction. You could easily become consumed with scenarios that play out in your mind all leading to a better outcome than what reality has cruelly dealt. "What if he left the parking lot seconds sooner....or later?"...."What if Lauren and her friends had taken the other route home that night?", even though I had always told her not to as it was more desolate than the highway. "What if the light at CR 39 had turned red and slowed the other driver down?"....the list can go on and on. My motto for the week after Lauren's death was "Don't think about what ifs....focus on what next!"
When Ray and I met with Pastor Tommy Green to plan Lauren's service another degree of separation was revealed. Apparently the manager at McDonald's that night had served his internship for becoming a youth pastor at our church. He had asked Tommy to provide me with his phone number so I could call him if I wanted to talk. I have the number stored in my phone but have not yet called. I'm not quite sure what to say.
Later that week Lauren (Kim's daughter) wrote a hypothetical letter:
"Dear guy at McDonald's, You got so mad when the manager told you to not park in the handicap parking spot. So what did you do? You drove up to the door and started cussing and screaming at him. You spit and cussed a little more. So I wrote down your license plate number to give to them. You left in such a fury that you ran the red light at 60 and Valrico. I was so happy that I wrote that plate down so I could bring u to justice before you hurt someone. Little did I know about 10 minutes later you hopped another median at 39 and 60 going 100 mph and hit two close friends of mine and killed them. All because you wanted a hamburger. Who knew that a hamburger would cost 4 people their lives including your own?
Sincerely, A devastated friend"
I read her letter and I wept. I wept for the loss of my daughter and the pain of her friend. I prayed that she would not be plagued by "what ifs". I prayed that she would find peace in knowing that this was out of any one's control. And I prayed that she would rely on the strength of our Lord and cherish all of her memories with my Lauren. No one can ever take those away from her....no one.