I was reading through the local newspaper online from home (my hometown, where my parents still live and where everybody knows everybody) and at the top of the website there is a section of “Most Read This Hour” and below that I noticed a girl’s name, 20.
……an obituary.
2008 Graduate, Age 20, Survived by parents, maternal grandparents, two special pets, aunts, uncles, other relatives and friends.
Isn’t the word siblings* supposed to go inbetween parents and maternal grandparents?
::insert horror here when I realized, if I died, my obituary would say the same thing::
I sent my mom a message with the link and said that I was going to put a safety harness besides the seatbelt in my car in addition to interior padding; this 20 year old girl was an only child, her parents are left without her, alone.
Their baby is gone, their one and only. Their pride and joy, gone.
In fact, in that car accident, 3 of the 4 died. 3 families are without their daughters, while the 4th girl is still in the hospital with serious injuries, so her family is grieving too. What happened? How? Why? What? When? Where?
The accident occured in very early morning (middle of the night) hours and wasn’t noticed until several hours later by a passerby.
When my mom replied to my message, she said, “Oh no, it looks like she was an only child” and I said, “I cannot imagine having an only child and losing them.”
She replied with, “That is my BIGGEST fear.”
Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback started playing on my iTunes and I got to listening to the lyrics and I couldn’t help but listen to the depth of the song.
Oh, you’ve gotta live every single day
Like it’s the only one, what if tomorrow never comes?
Don’t let it slip away, could be our only one
You know it’s only just begun, every single day
Maybe our only one, what if tomorrow never comes?
Tomorrow never comes
And I got thinking about my parents and all the other parents out there with only children and the general fear they have should something every happen to their one and only, and my heart began to swell.
Some parents, like mine, couldn’t have anymore… just simply could not conceive. They had me, and that was that. Secondary Infertility is something many mothers deal with unfortunately.
So, if you’re an only child (or one of many children/siblings), buckle up, drive carefully and defensively and watch out for yourself.
Life is precious.
Live every day, love every one, don’t hold grudges and resolve conflicts.
You never ever know when it will be the last time you see someone.
In the blink of an eye, it could all be gone.
*I am by absolutely no means trying to say having siblings is “better” in this situation versus being an only child. This post is merely in relation with only children and parents of one child, and the fear of losing their one and only. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 kid or 24 kids, a loss of any child is still just as tragic and unimaginably horrible regardless if it’s your only 1, one of five, one of ten, one of twenty, etc. There are no comparisons here other than the general knowledge of being an only child, and I felt compelled to write about it in this light since I’m an only child myself.
