"No parent should have to bury their child." This line (said by King Theodred in The Two Towers) haunts me and terrifies me. Each of my children has brought such joy into my life that the thought of losing one of them devastates me just in the abstract. Such thoughts are the worst sort of nightmare. To have that nightmare become reality ...
I will miss the funeral as it takes place while Connor and I will be travelling to Juneau. I missed the funeral of the student who died at the end of the school year due to my time in Kansas City. I regret both deeply. While people have lately taken to mocking the phrase "in our thoughts and prayers," that phrase is definitely true in this case.
May no other parents have to experience this.