If there's one thing I have learned in my 34 years of life is that life can throw some face hitting curve balls. I've watched several friends lose a parent way too soon (the most recent being this month), I watched a family member grieve and move on after the accidental death of their 8 year old child, and learned as a parent how to handle difficult news about your children.
For me, the first parenting "blow" happen when I learned that Aiden had not only a peanut allergy, but also an allergy to all tree nuts. We had give Aiden peanut butter a few times after he turned 2 and each reaction got worse and worse, which the last one lead to hospitalzation. Now luckily his throat didn't completely close on him, but the itching of his mouth and throat were bad. For Keith and I it was "hard to swallow" this news being big peanut/peanut butter lovers, but also we live in a world where EVERYTHING is manufactured on a tree or peanut plant. So we're on constant watch and can't really buy non label bake goods anymore.
The next parenting blow, came last October when learning at my 20 week ultrasound that Jonathan had a birth defect. I'm sure if you have been reading this blog, you know the emotions I had there and will spare all of the reiteration.
Today, I turned on the TV to watch the news and I found myself speechless, horrified, and just overwhelmed with emotions as a parent, but also as a human being, when I learned about the shooting at a CT elementary school. I know as humans we all want to pity ourselves and what we're going through from time to time, but today I was reminded that there are others suffering a little more then you. I was also reminded how bittersweet life is and how quickly it can be taken away. There were 20 sweet innocent lives lost and 6 adults who died trying to save them.
So as I head into this holiday season, I'll be constantly reminding myself to tell my children I love them a little more then I do, hug and kiss them a little extra, but revile in each moment of joy, sadness, madness, and silliness because shockingly it could all be gone tomorrow.
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