Member-only story
A Facebook Post And Death
It had been a few days since I logged onto Facebook. Not one to get on daily, just more or less when I have something to post. Today my son turned 19. And like every year that is a day I make my birthday tribute to him.
When I logged on the first post I saw was of a former coworker. It was two days old. She announced that her youngest son had passed away. My heart dropped.
What happened? I wondered. He was a young guy in his twenties who seemed healthy.
And just like that I went from excited to post pictures of my son, to commenting condolences on the loss of someone else’s son I had never met.
I made my post and logged off.
Throughout my day I thought of my own mortality and those closest to me. How none of us know the day or hour when our time is up. I thought of my two son’s and their life.
Seeing someone mourn the loss of their child helped me realize how we don’t own our kids. We are merely vessels to bring them into this world.
They are their own person. They have their own path. Reason. Purpose. And when that purpose has been fulfilled, they transition into the next phase.
There is no preparation for that. While we watch them sleep in their cribs we never contemplate them in a casket.
