The hardest thing a parent has to do ...

I've had to do some hard things in my 16+ years as a parent ...

... I had to take my babies to daycare. That got easier as time went on but then ...

...I had to send them off to Kindergarten. It didn't seem as safe as the little day care they went to, but they did well. And then came ...

...middle school and the BUS and being home alone for a whole 30 minutes every day. This was extremely difficult for me because I had to trust that they learned all the stuff they were supposed to in the previous 12 years and would remember it (don't answer the door, don't answer the phone unless you know who it is etc etc). We made it through the middle school years and ...

...on to High School, where everything is so much bigger and (to the mom) so much scarier.

In between all of this, I had to take my daughter to the police department after she snuck out one night so she could learn "what might have happened". The "might have" was a lot harder to think about than what did happen which was just a phone call in the middle of the night. I was torn between being so thankful she was OK to being so angry at what she did.

But yesterday I had to do the hardest thing as parent that I have ever had to do ... I had to tell my 14 yr old that a class mate and friend had been killed in an accident over the weekend. At 14 you should not have to go to funerals for your friends. She is doing OK so far. I think I am having more trouble with it. My mother's heart breaks for his parents, and all the fears of "what if this happened to my baby" parade through my thoughts.

This seems to make no sense, but a lot of things that happen in life fall into this category. This is where trusting in God and who He is becomes the hardest.

By all accounts, Scottie was a fun loving, outgoing boy with lots of friends. He was also a believer . I pray that this sustains his family.

My prayers go out to the McCarthy & Mosinksi families for God's peace and comfort in this time of sorrow.