A colleague of mine found out on Friday that her ds - only 19 - had just been killed in a car crash. This lady is the loveliest of people, who always has a smile and a warm word for you. Her two children, but particularly her son, were the centre of her life. He was her golden boy.
I only found out this morning - I'd left the office just before she was rung by the police (and told over the phone - how crass and insensitive can you get) - but even at the weekend I'd been commenting to dh while watching the film on the news of the wee child who had been burned in the arms dump explosion how, now that I'm a mother too, things like that distress me so much more.
Now that I'm a mum,I can only begin to start to understand how M must be feeling. And that's part of the horror of it - because I can begin to imagine how it must feel, and know that the reality must be infinitely worse.......
Apparently this lad skidded in the rain on Friday (first heavy rain for ages, so the roads were greasy) across the road into the path of another car and then head on into a wall. He and his friend were both killed instantly. The driver of the other car was in emergency surgery but is apparently now out of intensive care with two broken legs.
I can remember a year or so ago M's son had another accident and wrote off her Lexus and her distress then at how nearly she had lost him.
My eyes keep filling up when I think of how she must feel now - and what I would feel if anything happened to my ds.