7/365 - stop. hug. remember.

On Tuesday night I did a post asking for your thoughts and/or prayers for Natalie Norton and her 8 week old son Gavin who was in the fight of his life. Sadly, he lost his fight and passed away earlier this morning (her post is here) from complications of Pertussis (Whooping Cough).

I don't believe that this is the forum to discuss my religious beliefs but I will say that I choose to believe in a higher power and at times like this, when a young innocent life is taken, I struggle to understand the why. I guess to straighten it out in my mind, I made the decision to discount the theory that things just happen, for no rhyme or reason, and embrace the concept that there are bigger, deeper, more complicated reasons to why terrible tragic things happen to good people. Reasons that I will probably never understand. It is not scientific, it is faith.

It is hard to think of positive things when dealing with a death, especially a child, but I thought it was important, out of respect for this little soul to stop and spend a few silent moments today to see what if anything positive I can take from this.

I realized when I first heard about this at the beginning of the week, I found myself giving Kaeden a lot more hugs, for no reason, at random times. I would give him an extra tickle, or a kiss or a hug...whatever he will allow as he bounces from wall to wall. I have also been more tolerant of Shelby and her never being home, taking deep breathes, and not worrying about the little things. It made me stop and remember that occasionally letting the dirty socks on the floor slide, turning the odd blind eye to the missing of a curfew by 15 minutes or letting those dirty dishes sit to spend a few minutes playing x-box 360 or flipping through the latest Seventeen Prom magazine is so very important as you never know if or when life is going to throw you a curve ball.