A tough day tomorrow......

A friend of mine lost her son last weekend. He was 20. He died in a motorcycle accident. As with so many of my friends I met her and her husband through my daughter. (Soccer Girl) Their youngest daughter played soccer with SG for many years and now they go to high school together. I have watched this little girl grow up and my heart breaks for what will surely be one of the toughest times in her young life. I took some food over on Monday and when my friend opened the door and I looked into her eyes the pain I saw there took my breath away. She is a very petite woman and we all know I am not and when I embraced her I felt like a giant as we cried together. It seemed as if this devastating tragedy had shrunk her somehow physically as well as emotionally. Unfortunatly, I had never actually met her son. I am sure he was in the background on many occasions hanging out with the kids. Of course his name had been mentioned many times in conversations with my daughter and her friend or his Mom and Dad through the years. So as I was preparing the food on Monday I was thinking how sad it was that I had never talked to him. I remembered thinking how awful it was that if I would of passed him on the street I probably wouldn't even have realized he was my friend's son. That was until this afternoon. I was looking up his obituary to get the time of the funeral tomorrow. There looking at me was a picture of him. I realized then that I would of known him. His eyes would of told me. His eyes were his mother's and his sisters. Big, beautiful, expressive eyes that are the first thing you notice when you look at them. I know that everytime I look in the eyes of his mother or his sisters I will think of him. I will think of how sorry I am that I never made a point to introduce myself to him. I will think of how I won't let that happen again. I will make a point to get to know all of my friends children. One of the things that my friend said to me that has stuck in my mind. The thing she said that was bringing her some peace was the knowledge that her son knew how much she and her husband and family adored him. He knew how much he was loved. Please make it a point to let your children know how much you love them ALL the time. I know I will.................