Sad news!

I received some really sad news today.  A close friend at work 17 year old Son committed suicide the day before yesterday.  When I found out via a text message I burst into tears.  I can not imagine the pain his family is going through.  There is something profundly wrong with your Children going before you do.  I do not know the circumstances yet of what happened.

Whenever he used to speak about his boys his face would would light up.  It is poignant that going forward that beam of light will not be there.  He adored his family.  We spend all of our time nuturing our Children and wrapping them up in cotton wool and then something like this happens.  Having been through Cancer and fighting for my life I do not understand why a young person would want to throw it all away. 

As a parent in this situation I can on imagine the burden of guilt you must feel.  The questions must be roaming around your head, should I have done this or that to change the outcome.  It puts all of your silly little worrys and concerns into perspective.  Compared to something catastrophic like this happening everything else seems insignificant. 

I sent a text message to him and I did not know what to say.  What do you say to someone who has been faced with the death of their Child by their own hands.  All I could think of was to say I am here for you as a friend to support you.  You want to say something meaningful and to ease their pain, but the fact of the matter there is nothing you can say or do to make it better.  It makes you feel helpless.