Sadness....
My poor little sixth grader's teacher called yesterday afternoon with sad, sad news. A classmate was in the hospital Monday after an accidental hanging. My papaya girl and her classmates learned in the late afternoon that this cute boy had passed away. The teacher called to say my girl has taken the news very hard and she was concerned that my Papaya girl was taking it very hard and maybe we needed to pick her up after school.
My first concerns came when the girl called me at my semi work place and asked if I could come home as she just arrived and needed to talk to me. When I arrived home her tears were all but spent but still brimmed in her eyes. "Mom," she says, "his little brother found him. Isn't that so so sad?" And as I tried to ply her with chocolate, an outing, or whatever (nothing could budge her from her melancholy) to soothe her, I realized there was some deep thinking going on. I asked her if she wanted to go speak to a counselor that are on hand?
Her reply, "Why would I speak to some twenty year old stranger?" (Mind you she is 11.) "I would just talk to my friends about my feelings." Um. Take that mama. She then spoke of the situation at hand and how she didn't realize kids could die. "I know 15 and 16 year olds do, but not kids."
She didn't want to eat and she took herself to bed for a nap. That night, well last evening, I offered her sanctuary in our bed for the night for comfort. As she layed sullenly by me I asked if she was okay? "I am in deep depression mom." Duh me.
This morning we allowed the little punk to sleep in and go to school late. As she coifed for the day she again mentioned that cute Orion, who died, had a little brother waiting to be born in just a few months. "He will never get to see his little brother mom. And his baby won't ever know him." She says holding back emotion as best as she can.
There are answers to her concerns. I told her that he is probably with that baby brother right now in heaven and that he will be the one to escort that little one on the day of his birth. "But the baby won't remember him!" Silence.
As versed as I am in the standard answers of life, there was a complete void of thought. How can I assist my little one to face mortality when I myself know the extreme loss and sadness of losing someone we love? My older brother was killed when he was merely 16 and I 14. How can I bring comfort to a child that knows Heavenly Father is there with Orion now but that we feel the loss here on earth? There is a comfort that we go to a loving Father.................but there is still loss.
So today, I embrace the void of thoughts, and wish the world some peace in the trials that they suffer or those that they know suffer.
Go and be still in the void. Blessings to that little family that today is facing a trial I hope to never have to endure.
My first concerns came when the girl called me at my semi work place and asked if I could come home as she just arrived and needed to talk to me. When I arrived home her tears were all but spent but still brimmed in her eyes. "Mom," she says, "his little brother found him. Isn't that so so sad?" And as I tried to ply her with chocolate, an outing, or whatever (nothing could budge her from her melancholy) to soothe her, I realized there was some deep thinking going on. I asked her if she wanted to go speak to a counselor that are on hand?
Her reply, "Why would I speak to some twenty year old stranger?" (Mind you she is 11.) "I would just talk to my friends about my feelings." Um. Take that mama. She then spoke of the situation at hand and how she didn't realize kids could die. "I know 15 and 16 year olds do, but not kids."
She didn't want to eat and she took herself to bed for a nap. That night, well last evening, I offered her sanctuary in our bed for the night for comfort. As she layed sullenly by me I asked if she was okay? "I am in deep depression mom." Duh me.
This morning we allowed the little punk to sleep in and go to school late. As she coifed for the day she again mentioned that cute Orion, who died, had a little brother waiting to be born in just a few months. "He will never get to see his little brother mom. And his baby won't ever know him." She says holding back emotion as best as she can.
There are answers to her concerns. I told her that he is probably with that baby brother right now in heaven and that he will be the one to escort that little one on the day of his birth. "But the baby won't remember him!" Silence.
As versed as I am in the standard answers of life, there was a complete void of thought. How can I assist my little one to face mortality when I myself know the extreme loss and sadness of losing someone we love? My older brother was killed when he was merely 16 and I 14. How can I bring comfort to a child that knows Heavenly Father is there with Orion now but that we feel the loss here on earth? There is a comfort that we go to a loving Father.................but there is still loss.
So today, I embrace the void of thoughts, and wish the world some peace in the trials that they suffer or those that they know suffer.
Go and be still in the void. Blessings to that little family that today is facing a trial I hope to never have to endure.
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