Have you hugged your child today?

My cousin died unexpectedly recently, and of course it hit the family hard.  I had a lot of emotions going on during the visitation and funeral, and I came home and made a layout about them while it was fresh in my mind. 

In case you can’t read the journaling, here’s what it says:  June 16, 2007. Today we buried my cousin Johnny. He was 18. He died of an apparent accidental overdose. The last few years he’d given his parents a lot of sleepless nights trying out his independence as a teenager, coming home late, doing things he shouldn’t. But he had graduated from high school 3 weeks ago & they thought he had finally turned a corner. He’d signed up at our local college. My aunt was so proud that he was back on track. As I sat in the funeral home a few rows back from Aunt Betsy, I stared at the back of her head and & watched her shake her head, bend over at the waist & sob, my little girl put her hand in mine and laid her head on my shoulder. I have never been more acutely aware of the feeling of that little hand in mine & that little head on my shoulder. And all I could think of was that Betsy was never going to be able to do that with her boy again. She’ll never talk to him again, never touch him again. As a mother myself, the thought of this breaks my heart. I feel physical pain for her. The entire day she had this look of sorrow on her face. She’s so lost. It hurt me to look at her & still makes me cry now to think about that look. The funeral home was filled with teenagers, John’s friends, kids from school. I sat & watched these big burly teenage boys sob their hearts out. John’s best friend walked in & just collapsed to his knees on the floor sobbing the most heart-wrenching cries I’ve ever heard in my life. I prayed that these kids will remember why they were there, will remember why John is gone. I prayed that they will take away a lesson from this experience & change their lives so that my aunt’s sorrow that she’ll have for the rest of her life won’t be for nothing. Rest in peace John Travis Morgenroth. 

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