A Mixed up Kind of Day - Warning

I don't even know how to start this post today. I don't know how to convey two points in a message and not make one seem trivial beside the other.

The fact is - we did get an offer last night. It was a good offer only it's subject to the sale of their home. A home which is not on the market yet and we have no idea how much they are thinking they'll get for it etc. We will meet with the realtor this afternoon and get an understanding of what his take is on it. It would mean that we'd still be in months of uncertainty and that E would have to start school here until their house was sold. They're only asking for 10 weeks but still. If it goes it wouldn't be a big deal. We just don't know.

The second thing is so much harder to write and if I hadn't had it to write you would have gotten a much more detailed and lengthy (and probably boring) version of the whole thing. None of that really matters right now.

What I hadn't mentioned earlier this week was that a son of a friend of mine had been hit by a car this week. He wasn't wearing a helmet although they say that likely would not have made a difference. He was airlifted to the children's hospital and was listed there in critical condition all week. Now almost a week since his accident I have just received the news that he has died. At twelve years old.

How do you comfort a mother who has lost her child in a sudden and tragic way? There are no words, there is no comfort.

Among the tears I've cried this morning not only for this boy but for his mother, it hits me how quick life can change. That morning my friend and her youngest daughter had been over for tea while that son babysit the other children. (She has 5 at home). To remember the phone call she made to him to ask him if it was okay for him to look after the kids a little longer while she stayed for tea. They live literally 5 houses away. To remember the phone call she got back as he cheekily tried to negotiate for a video game rental since he was babysitting for him and to think that it was that very afternoon that saw my friend's world come crashing down around her.

The only small thing is that they told her the helmet wouldn't have saved his life, so she doesn't have that to blame herself with. Not that he wasn't a big boy and knew the rules, but as moms we take all that stuff on. I am sure though she will find plenty of other things to regret. We always do.

You just never know when your spouse, child, parent, sister, brother, friend, whoever, goes out that door if it's the last they will ever see of them. Life can be all too painfully short for some of us.

I don't know how my friend is going to cope over the next few months. It's been one day and I am sure it seems like an eternity of misery to her already.

I am sure you've all heard stuff like this before. I know I have and I've often thought of the what ifs when K leaves for work after we've had a fight. No I Love You's were said, no have a good day honey. Just anger and silence. What if something bad happened? I'd regret it forever.

Now is a time to think on what I'd regret if something bad happened to anyone in my family today. In the meantime, I am going to go and hug my kids.