Friday Books: Nothing Today but a Broken Heart

No book report today! I'm reading two books simultaneously and am about halfway through both of them. I don't like reading this way. It slows me down on both books! Hopefully I'll have something to report next week.

Meanwhile, I want to tell you a sad story. About three weeks ago a young mother was driving her children and some nieces home from a fun event. No one knows exactly what happened. She probably hit some ice; somehow she lost control. (It has been a bad ice season.) Her car spun around and ended up slamming into a truck. Three little children died. They were 11, 5, and 5. They were cousins: each of them was the daughter of one of three grown sisters. The driver lost a daughter, and so did her two sisters. The driver was badly hurt and has been in the hospital in ICU for three weeks, unable to speak and barely moving.

Here's where the story circles around to my family. While sitting in the ICU waiting room this last week, waiting for Mother-in-Law to recover from a stroke, we realized that the family sharing our space was the family from the above tragedy. They had been camped out in ICU for a long time; we could see that from the boxes of food, blankets, pillows, and other supplies they had with them.

We spoke to various of the survivors: two children, one of whom survived the accident, the husband of the injured driver, and the grandmother.

I cannot begin to imagine their pain. Their lives are forever altered. I literally hurt inside my chest, thinking about what they are going through. While we were there the young mother was transferred from ICU into a rehab hospital, so we no longer shared waiting room space with that family. I am glad we were able to speak with them and give them our condolences.

I know people all over the world are hurting from some terrible things. This family has touched my heart because I saw them up close. If you are a praying person, please pray for the M/P families as well as for other families around the world who are touched by tragedy, loss, fear, and pain. I believe we can help each other through prayer and hope.