No guarantees

During the holidays you often get calls from friends and family that you haven’t heard from all year long. The pleasant conversations across the wires and cables strung across the world begin. As the calls come in you get into the routine of catching up. You repeat the same message over and over. I was doing that this past week, except for one day. A friend called who is also the parent of my daughter’s close friend. Since my daughter switched schools she hasn’t been hanging around the same people on the weekends. This friend still calls to chat and such. Well the mom called to talk to me because a mutual friend of our daughters was killed the day before thanksgiving. She had called to let us know and explained the events and when services were to be held. My daughter is 12 and this is the first time someone has passed away, someone who she played with for years. Holiday ruckus was going on at home. The kids were being kids as I was busy prepping everything for the meal/visits. As kids go, they will often get moody when people are busy trying to get things done so the normal spats were going on with me and my pre-teen daughter because she was bored. Then I get the call and I have to talk to her about it. For face value she took it well, but after we walked out of the room, she had to spend some time alone outside away from her other siblings. I didn’t pursue her to see if she was ok, I felt it would be best to let her be. Then next evening after the meal I was thinking should I get her to go to the wake and say her final goodbyes or just let her make the choice herself. By nature she is shy and to be placed in a situation that isn’t the happiest with some stranger would not be beneficial to her personality. She chose not to go and I supported that. It still does not make it easier to let go.

Brittany was 11.