Losing a parent

This job can be tough when stories hit close to home. On today’s front page, a motorcycle accident story has pulled at my heart all morning. Machesney Park resident Eric McClenthen was a friend of mine. We went to high school together, his sister had dated my brother for quite some time and there was one summer that a day didn’t go by that I wasn’t hanging out with his brother at their house. Eric and I had a strange friendship. We always played like we hated each other. I’d stick out my tongue at him, he would give me the finger and we would call each other names, but it was always in good fun. It sounds funny, but it’s times like right now that I would give anything to have him “offend” me again.

When I first got the news Sunday evening, I just couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t have been true. As the night went on and Monday began, I started to think about how his family was handling the situation and how awful it must be to lose son, brother, boyfriend … and then it hit me: Eric was a father. He has a little boy that will not understand where his daddy has went. My heart broke and tears streamed down my face.

For the first time in my life I saw death through a parent’s eyes. Just imagining what life would be like for Annabelle without Ryan or myself was unbearable. As all of this was running through my mind, my daughter, now 10-months-old, sat in the backseat of the car yelling “da-da da-da” like she always does. I can’t even explain how much it hurts to think of Eric’s little boy and all the moments he will miss with him.

I couldn’t help but cry the first second I saw my husband after this particular car ride. I immediately rushed Annabelle to his arms as if every moment was precious — because every moment is, just sometimes we need to be reminded. I wish I could say just one more thing to Eric, but now the time has passed.

On behalf of Eric’s memory – please take time out to hug your children, call your parents or siblings and say what you need to say. Life is too precious not to.

Ryan giving Annabelle a kiss.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 9:21 am and is filed under Mama Knows Best. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.