What is it about some situations in life that happen in split seconds. Without notice. Absent anticipation. What is it about spotting an LifePack Emergency Defibrillator AED holder on the wall.....unlocked and empty. Commotion with that gut-wrenching quietness all at the same time. You know something has happened but you're afraid to ask. Piles of police, airline personnel, TSA employees......all waiting in near silence for the coroner to arrive.
It happened today...just moments ago.....as I arrived in Seattle from Denver. Walking along, happy as ever, just another day in paradise. Until I reach Gate C2M in Seattle. And behind the C2M boarding podium -- you know, that walkway area where thousands of travelers walk, tramp, their way to aircraft each year -- I see a horribly young mother and father kneeling on the ground around their dead baby. One and one half years old. Trying to get back home to Montana after a hospital stay in Seattle. The baby was sick. CPR did nothing.
But to die here? Precisely in the boarding area of its flight home? I just wasn't ready for that. The police took the empty baby seat and diaper bag with them. The AED lay nearby.
And then, the mother -- she clutched her child wrapped in its blanket and was escorted down the back stairway. To another life, without her child.
I am reminded today. Of a whole lot of things. I guess I'll go to Chicago now.
16 comments:
My traveling has shown me the entire gamut of the human condition... from the saddest of times to the happiest of moments.
It's the sad ones that seem to stick with you. :-(
Thanks for the phone call. I wish I could have been on the trip with you so I could be with you right now when you need it the most. Keeping you, the mother and father and all of the care givers, emergency response people, doctors, our friends at the airport who were no doubt the first responders and, ok, this one is hard.....even the TSA.
Love and hugs to you baby......
I think that was the hardest story i have ever read! My heart goes out to those parents. To lose your child. i can only imagine what you felt like.
Hugs..and much love bro!
What a heart wrenching experience. I cannot even imagine how I would feel if I had saw this - just reading it brought tears to my eyes.
so the baby died? oh my gosh, that's tough. i wonder what was wrong with him/her. my little girl, emilee, gave her Fred Meyer bear to a little boy named christopher when she was in the hospital with him. then he died. she was very sad.
I just sobbed some at the end of that. I can't breathe now.
Like the other commenters, I too am moved to tears. My heart goes out to that couple.
Your point is well made. Sometimes life hands us surprises and they are not always happy ones. Sometimes in the midst of "merrily we roll along" we are reminded of the stark realities of life and often of just how fortunate we are.
Tragic. Sorry for you and them of course.
Oh God. I can't imagine how I'd go on if I lost one of my children. There's no recovering from that. I'm lifting that family in prayer.
what a horrible awful tale. I feel sorry for everybody. the parents - it is beyond words.
and the grief of watching such an event - I know it is painful for you as well.
Alas, few of us get to die where and when we want. it usually is an embarrassing and awkward situation.
I will be thinking of you and her this weekend.
How terrible. That's something that you (and they) won't forget.
I read this right after you posted it and it's stuck with me, Lewis. Heartbreaking.
this story just broke my heart... i read it at work a few days ago... and was frozen in the break room by the grief and fragile state of life... harsh indeed. My heart goes out to those parents!
Wow. How awful. I can't even imagine.
To me, this is a reminder not to take anything or anyone for granted. If you love someone, tell 'em. Everyday.
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