Heavy hearted

I am not sure if the news I received today would have hit me as hard before I had Elijah but I know that now as a parent this completely broke my heart. There is a little boy who lives in our complex that we have known for years. Our neighbors before they move away son was this boys best friend. This boy was often behind our house and around so we knew him pretty well. He was a bit of a wild child and trouble seemed to follow him although he had a good heart and tried to do the right things. He just wasn't supervised well and was often left on his own. One Halloween he came to our door with his hand bandaged because he had tried to make himself a milk shake and lost several fingers on the blades of the blender. He was a happy kid though and from what we could tell his parents loved him wholly and were doing the best they knew how. I don't know how else to describe it other than that. Earlier this month the boys father took him on a road trip. The boy was asleep in the backseat and the father was driving and apparently fell asleep at the wheel and got in an accident and overturned the car. The little boy only 11 years old died instantly.

This poor little boy never really had a chance to live. I have been thinking about the choices we make in our lives and how they effect us. I am sure all of us at one time or another have driven when we were a little too tired just to make it a little further or to arrive a little earlier. Maybe we couldn't afford a hotel room, or maybe we were almost home, whatever the reason we continue to drive and never think about what could happen. I am sure that this father will for the rest of his life regret not stopping and resting. He can never undue that decision and has to live forever with a stupid choice he made. I am writing this here to hopefully remind everyone to think carefully about the decisions you make especially ones that put others at risk. A hotel room is a lot cheaper than a funeral.

Even though this was just a kid in the neighborhood that we knew and not one that we were very close too, I am so sad by this. I guess it is always sad when a child dies but when you know them it is so much worse.