Hug Your Babies Tonight…

Every now and then you hear a story about another family that rocks your world-and not in a good way. As you go about your daily routine of work, kids, house and errands we often forget to stop and embrace the things most important to us-our family and children.

A week ago one of my Facebook friends mentioned that her 14 year old nephew came home sick from school, threw up and then the next day his mother found him unconscious. They rushed him to the hospital where they diagnosed him with one of the more virulent strains of bacterial meningitis. In her post, she mentioned that he was on a ventilator and his organs were beginning to shut down.

This is the kind of post that makes any mother shudder. Although my 13 year old son had the meningitis shot last year, the thought of any scary disease like that happening to someone so young makes you stop in your tracks and hold your children tightly.

A week has gone by and I’ve wondered how her nephew was doing. She posted nothing and I wasn’t close enough to her to ask. Today her post was that “the next 48 hours were going to be a grueling and sad.”  Articles on the Internet confirmed my suspicions. The family had to take their son off of life support and he passed away early Sunday morning.

Having a child so close in age and trying to think about what his mother must be going through is more than I could bear. He was perfectly fine one day, then so incredibly ill that he was rushed to the emergency room where his body shut down. Now he is gone.

I sat quietly at my desk and thought about all the times I tell my children, “one more minute” or “I can’t because I’m working” and became rather disgusted with myself. I understand-we simply can’t spend every moment with our children and that we have to work; however, it made me sick to think that there have been more moments than I’d like to admit where I chose sitting at my desk, typing away on the computer versus stopping to see or hear what they had to say.

Tonight my son received an award at middle school for outstanding achievement in social studies. At the same time, another mother was holding visitation for her son at a funeral home in Michigan.

This tragedy only reminded me to remember what’s important and how squeezing every possible moment we have with our children is far more valuable than a few extra dollars or another gig.  We’ll never have this time again once the moment is gone.

So tonight, if you have to work, hug your babies before you put them to bed. Remind them of how much you love them and watch them drift off to sleep. Remember that you are lucky to have another day with them.