For a long time, Tara Van Steenburgh said she struggled to even look at pictures of her son, Jacoby Springfield, who was killed four years ago in a drunken hit-and-run crash in south Lubbock.
She sat in the 140th District court on Jan. 5 and told the 54-year-old woman who admitted to driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit that her actions that night left a painful hole in her heart that will never heal.
“That gaping hole in my heart waits for me each morning, hitting me with that familiar emptiness,” she said. “I have felt dead inside, unable to find comfort even in small things. Music, food, movies and TV shows are all wrapped up in memories of Jacoby … I miss his laugh. He had such a great laugh. The kind of laugh you want to hear. This is what devastation feels like.”
Forever 20 years old
Tara said her youngest son’s recent 20th birthday was another reminder that Jacoby will forever remain 20…