A family trip that should have ended with birthday candles ended with a single, chilling text.

Cristina Grossu Biffle, the wife of NASCAR champion Greg Biffle, messaged her mother from the plane just minutes before it crashed on December 18. “We’re in trouble,” she wrote, according to her mother, Cathy Grossu. Then the messages stopped.

The crash killed seven people. Greg, 55, and Cristina died alongside their children, Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14. The flight also claimed family friends Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, as well as Craig Wadsworth.

Cathy said the group had planned a joyful birthday trip to Florida. Instead, she now holds tight to memories from the day before the crash, when Greg and Cristina visited her home. She remembers the hugs. However, she cannot remember her last words to her daughter, and that absence weighs heavily.

Even in her final hours, Cathy said, Cristina focused on other families. She had been organizing Santa letters for children in need and asked her mother to help pick up the last batch so she could mail them before leaving. Cathy said Cristina finished the task that night. In other words, her final act centered on giving.

Friends echoed that picture of her life. They described a woman with a generous heart and a family that lived with purpose.

Now loved ones ask for privacy as they grieve. And one short sentence, sent from the sky, carries the ache of everything left unsaid.