Accident...

I was contemplating on writing a post today but somehow my mind’s all messed up that I can’t think of something to write about. Well… let me just share with you a reflection that I had regarding an incident that happened a few months ago. It was a gruesome accident that I witnessed involving a passenger van and a ten wheeler truck. The passenger van was Cagayan de Oro bound and full of passengers while the truck was coming from a warehouse and backing up onto the highway when the accident happened. The van crashed onto the truck and apparently the driver of the van did not notice or see the truck at all. The van was beyond recognition and as a result, a young lady perished. I presume that there was no other casualty except for this young lady who later on I came to know as the daughter of someone working for a large multinational company located here in Mindanao. I do not know the family of this young lady personally but I feel for their loss. Hence I decided to write this to reflect on this very unfortunate experience. I too am a parent and a husband, maybe a lousy one, sometimes grouchy but nevertheless a parent to 3 lovely and beautiful children and a husband to a gorgeous and charming woman. There comes a point in time in the lives of our children that we as parents have to let go. Terrified? Yes! The thought that they will be on their own terrifies me, a lot of what if’s, the how? and the what? There are a whole lot of questions that need to be answered. Some of the answers I may never know in this lifetime, but there is one thing that I am pretty sure about; I love my children and that love I suppose is beyond measure. I think that only GOD knows how much I really love my kids. Maybe that’s how we are as parents. We have this fear inside of us every time a child or our children leave home. Its like, we wish that a part of us has to go with them, to look after them, to protect them, to keep them safe, to remind them that it is time to eat, that its time to go home or that its time for this and time for that, to take a bath, blah, blah, blah, etc. But it can’t be, at some point, we will have to let go and like it or not, they will be on their own. To make and find their own life and purpose in this world. And when that time comes, it will be terrifying for us parents. Maybe, we’ll just pray to the ALMIGHTY for their protection and well-being.

When I was still young, I never really knew why mama would always pester me with all sorts of reminders, I never knew why she would scold me if I would come home late, and I never knew why she does what she does to us, her children. I never knew… never understood… in fact, resented it to the point that I would find ways to make her mad or angry… until I too became a parent. Well maybe, that’s how the cycle goes…

Perhaps, I’ll just pray to the good LORD that he prepares me for the time that day will come… to strengthen me and dispel my fears. In the meantime, I would like to also mourn the loss of that young lady to that horrible accident. I pray that her parents and family find meaning in the loss of their beloved daughter.

I hope this post doesn’t make you miserable. I sincerely hope that we parents enjoy the company of our children while they are still with us. I too am a busy parent like most of you probably are. Sometimes it takes something like this for us to realize a lot of things, like how busy we are with work and how little time we have for our family more so, for our children.