Pain, Sorrow, and Bike Helmets

It has been a troubling several days around our house, especially for Trina. Late last week, there was an eight-year-old boy who was hit by a school bus while he was riding his bike to school. Whenever there is a tragedy that involves a child, it tears at the heart strings of a parent. In this case though, it hit closer to home. You see, we knew this little boy. Trina had watched him grow up. They were members of our church and Trina had served in several church callings with the boy's mother. It was a troubling story. Tanner Allen had been riding his bike and was ready to enter the parking lot at the school. He turned in just as a bus arrived and was swept under the wheels which ran over his upper torso and his head. Tanner suffered massive trauma and went into a coma. His mother happened to be in the neighborhood and came to the scene only to find her oldest son lying there motionless. Having lost a child myself, I know how the parents feel. On one hand, the pain is nearly unbearable as this little spirit returns to heaven leaving a large hole in your heart that never heals. It is as though a part of you dies along with the child. Trina was of course like a rock and visited with the parents on two different occasions talking with them and sharing experiences to help them through the grief. I on the other hand was not nearly as strong. This experience brought those feelings of dread, fear and pain from when we lost Lindsay. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of my daughter and wonder what might have been had she not been called back to heaven. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Allen family during this time of sorrow. I hope that Tanner's memory will live on eternally within their hearts.