Hug Your Kids Tighter

Those of you who are parents know how absolutely rewarding being a parent can be. When they laugh, when they learn, when they say "Mama" or "Dada" for the first time, when they love you back. You also know how incredibly frustrating being a parent can be. When they don't listen, when they cry for no apparent reason, when they wake up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep. Luckily, the good always outweighs the bad.

As I've mentioned in my previous entries, I work in the pediatric ICU. It's taught me a lot about life and the fragility of it. Yesterday I went to a showing of a young man. Not of a former patient, but a coworker's son. We got there early because I figured there would be tons of people there since he was a young man with a great family, well-loved by their church and community. I was right, we were in line for a while.

As I waited in line to give her my condolences, I studied her. I watched her hug each guest, smiling but still showing the pain in her eyes. Once it was my turn, she hugged me and said some pretty powerful things. She said, "Love your kids, love them everyday because you just never know. You just don't know." Her son had died in a tragic accident. She said she found comfort in knowing that he was with the Lord now because he was a Christian. She also said that even though she still wanted to be his mom here on earth, she knew that he was being taken care of and didn't need a thing anymore.

The words that she spoke really hit me. You just don't know. You just don't know when something will happen. And though I see this commonly in the PICU, it's a little different when it happens to someone you know. It hits close to home. I've always tried to put myself in parents' shoes at my work, but now I'm trying to put myself in a coworker's shoes and it seems much more real. Anything can happen at anytime. A split second is all it takes for your world to be turned upside-down. The thought that it could never happen to me has been erased. I hope and pray it never does. I wish no parent had to go through this.

So love those kids. Love their good times and their naughty times. They're going to grow up fast. You can't get this time back. Treasure it while you have it. Hug them a little tighter tonight. There's one woman out there who won't be able to hug her baby again.