Susan Saint James and Dick Ebersol

I just got done watching them on Oprah where they were talking about losing their youngest son in an airplane crash 14 months ago.

To summarize: the plane crashed on takeoff after the pilot tried to correct. 4 people were ejected from the plane and Dick Ebersol and his son Charlie were the only ones left inside the plane. Charlie lifted about 250 pounds of stuff from the galley off of his father and dragged him out of the plane. With flames in the wreckage 3 to 4 feet high, Charlie ran back to find his younger brother, but her couldn't. The plane became totally engulfed in flames. For 2 days Charlie tortured himself that he hadn't gotten his brother out. It turns out that Teddy's seat was ripped from the plane and he was thrown out, killing him instantly. The plane then went over top of him and protected his body from the flames. Charlie couldn't have gotten him out because they had to use a crane to get the plane off of him.

What impressed me the most about the family (Susan and Dick were there with Charlie and another son Willie) was how close and how loving the family is. Charlie said that his first thought after the crash was "Where's my dad. I can't do this without my dad." And after he got his dad out, he had to call his mother and say "Come back to the airport. There's been a crash and I can't find Teddy. You have to help me find Teddy." In the hospital, Willie crawled into the bed with his brother. Susan told the family after the crash "You can be as sad as you want, but we are not going to be angry and bitter." Their daughter took over while everybody was in hospital and arranged Teddy's burial and organized the whole family.

During Oprah, Charlie broke down and cried a few times, and Willie was right there holding his hand and cradling him against his shoulder. Susan Saint James cried a lot and her husband and sons were there to hold on to her as well.

Their attitude was amazing. It's obvious how much they love each other and how much they love Teddy. They love talking about him. They weren't mourning, but celebrating him. They miss him tremendously - he seemed to be the "adored youngest".

Quotes from Susan:

“I have a right and my kids have the right to just be really sad. But we're not mad-sad. I'm not mad … I just want to move forward. I tell my kids, “Having resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other guy dies.”

"I look at it this way...: For Ted, it's like when you go to the movies and there's 10 of you and it's really [crowded], you get ahead in line but you want stuff to eat. So you send one poor schlub in to save all nine seats [and] you give him nine coats. It's really the crap job, you know? You really don't want that job.

Of course, Ted had to have that job. But I look at it like that's his job. He's up there and he's saving us seats."

The thing that I will take away from this program though, aside from making your family the centre of your world, is something that Teddy wrote in an autobiography when he was 13: "The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race."