I visited a friend this weekend that has recently lost her little boy. And I am sitting here right now thinking about her and crying terribly. The pain that she is feeling is just indescribable. She misses that little guy so much.
We dress our kids in the morning and just assume that we will tuck them into bed that night. Most days follow that predictable pattern. But the scary thing is, some don't. Some days that start out quite innocently, can turn into nightmares right before our eyes. We think (hope) it only happens to other people. But it doesn't. It happens to anyone. It happened to her. It happened to my own parents.
There is no horror that I can think of that would be worse for me than to hold my child and watch helplessly as he died. I don't know how I would survive that. I don't know how she will survive it. I don't know how my parents survived it.
There was a park bench near where we used to live that was inscribed with the words "life is short, hurry to be kind". I have always loved that. And it's not just "be kind", but "hurry to be kind". Hurry. We hurry so much in our days doing ( in the grand scheme of things) meaningless stuff. We hurry to work, and then hurry home. We hurry to the grocery store, to make dinner, to bathe the kids and get them in bed. All so that we'll have a little more time to do some more stuff we're in such a hurry to do. What we ought to be doing is hurrying to do the truly important stuff.
Hurry to hug your kids. Hurry to show them every day over and over again how much they are loved, and enjoyed, and cherished. Hurry to speak kindly to them. Hurry to touch them only gently and with love. Hurry to kiss your spouse. Hurry to ignore his dirty socks on the floor next to the hamper. Hurry to call your dad. Hurry to go to lunch with your mom. Hurry to stop and talk to a neighbor before you close the garage door. Hurry to ask for forgiveness. Hurry to forgive.
We don't know how long any of these people will be in our lives.
Or how long we will be in theirs.
And if you get a minute, please say a prayer for my friend and her sweet little boy. And for his brother and sisters who miss him and don't understand why he left.
We dress our kids in the morning and just assume that we will tuck them into bed that night. Most days follow that predictable pattern. But the scary thing is, some don't. Some days that start out quite innocently, can turn into nightmares right before our eyes. We think (hope) it only happens to other people. But it doesn't. It happens to anyone. It happened to her. It happened to my own parents.
There is no horror that I can think of that would be worse for me than to hold my child and watch helplessly as he died. I don't know how I would survive that. I don't know how she will survive it. I don't know how my parents survived it.
There was a park bench near where we used to live that was inscribed with the words "life is short, hurry to be kind". I have always loved that. And it's not just "be kind", but "hurry to be kind". Hurry. We hurry so much in our days doing ( in the grand scheme of things) meaningless stuff. We hurry to work, and then hurry home. We hurry to the grocery store, to make dinner, to bathe the kids and get them in bed. All so that we'll have a little more time to do some more stuff we're in such a hurry to do. What we ought to be doing is hurrying to do the truly important stuff.
Hurry to hug your kids. Hurry to show them every day over and over again how much they are loved, and enjoyed, and cherished. Hurry to speak kindly to them. Hurry to touch them only gently and with love. Hurry to kiss your spouse. Hurry to ignore his dirty socks on the floor next to the hamper. Hurry to call your dad. Hurry to go to lunch with your mom. Hurry to stop and talk to a neighbor before you close the garage door. Hurry to ask for forgiveness. Hurry to forgive.
We don't know how long any of these people will be in our lives.
Or how long we will be in theirs.
And if you get a minute, please say a prayer for my friend and her sweet little boy. And for his brother and sisters who miss him and don't understand why he left.
Came across the same bench today as my husband and I were out for lunch. Really made me stop and think. Great post, made me stop and think MORE how I've hurried in anger. Thanks, and God be with you and your friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tina for the sweet comment.
ReplyDelete