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OPINION

At one of my many adventures to the emergency room a few weeks ago, I met a nurse who reminded me to enjoy ALL the little moments in my children’s lives — including the difficult ones.

Her ‘children,’ now 19 and 20, are long past the terrible twos and sensitive years of adolescence.

She said it went fast…too fast.

My children are nowhere near those years of early adulthood, making ‘interesting’ decisions, finding their ways in this sometimes complicated world, and wondering what the big picture is.

For now my daughter has aspirations of being an alligator when she grows up and my son continues to entertain me with his undeniable curiosity.

Despite the age difference, I am sure that nurse feels exactly the same way now about her children, as I do about mine — protective, anxious and inspired by their everyday adventures.

They are still her babies, just in bigger packages.

I know the worrying won’t cease. And no one can really explain to you what that is like until you have children. In fact, I think the worrying will become more intense as I lose control over their comings and goings.

I know I am not alone.

Last Friday, a tragic crash took place, leading to 16 lives lost.

A bus transporting players from the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, coaches and staff, collided with a tractor-trailer at an intersection outside of Tisdale, Sask.

Twenty-nine people were aboard that bus, and over half (16) were killed.

I can’t imagine the painful phone calls, to the parent’s and to the family members of those 16 individuals.

They have barely had time to come to terms with the fact their sons, brothers, uncles (in at least one case a father), and a daughter, will not be coming home.

They won’t get to to hold their loved ones, hear their laughter, smell their clothes or see their beautiful faces.

My heart goes out to all of the families, friends and anyone impacted by last week’s tragedy. I feel for the parents who are still waiting at the door, unable to accept their child’s fate and hoping it is all a bad dream.

But it isn’t even a bad dream — it is a nightmare.

It is a parent’s worst nightmare — losing a child — unable to prevent a tragedy from taking place.

No one can predict what is going to happen in this life, but that gives a parent little comfort when it comes to the well-being of their child.

We watch our children grow, and the older and stronger they become, the more at ease we are supposed to be.

It feels like there will be this pivotal moment where we can stop worrying because our children have ‘made it,’ and we can just step back and watch… but to think such things is naive.

Because our children will in fact grow up, but they will always be our children.

— Becky Mann is a 30-something, red haired, mother of two, trying to navigate this life as best she can. She enjoys talking to people and discovering their stories. Still trying to balance her personal and professional life, she juggles work and play. In her spare time Becky can be found visiting with friends, spending time with her family and saving time by reading while walking. She knows there is so much more to come and is looking forward to the continued adventure.

News from © iNFOnews, 2018