I Love You Mom

This morning, the weather in central Ohio was awful. Around 7:30, a mixture of sleet and rain began and let up about an hour later, about the time I got to work. It was a bit slick in places, but overall, it wasn't too bad for my commute -- although that may have been because everyone was driving at about half the speed limit. I skidded a few times and was glad to get to work and not have to drive anymore, but I wasn't afraid for my life or anything.

Maybe I should have been.

Around noon, when we were just serving the kids lunch, we heard whooping and hollering. My first thought was that some kids were running wild through the hallway. And then I realized it was crying. We had heard yesterday that one of the infant classrooms had a new baby and the mother was really upset when she dropped the child off. I thought maybe that infant was a little late in arriving or something.

And then I heard, "No, it's not true! It can't be true."

It was our music teacher, Kate. Her husband had come to work to tell her that her mom had been in a car accident on her way to work this morning. She had skidded and gotten her car turned around on the freeway, her car was hit by a semi, and she died instantly.

It took awhile for the center directors to get her calmed down a bit, and then she got in her car and followed her husband out of the parking lot. I don't think I could have done that myself.

I have no idea what I would do with myself if my mom died. I don't even want to think about how my husband and my son would cope if I died. And then I think about my husband, whose own mother passed away when he was only 11 years old.

Have you told someone you love them lately?