Parents

As hard as it is to be a parent who has lost a child, I don’t think people realize that it can be just as hard to be the parent of a parent who has lost a child.

To watch your child’s heart break in a way you cannot fix—while your own heart is breaking for your grandchild—has to be unbearable.

To watch your baby mourn her baby is a pain no parent should ever have to witness.

And for my parents, that pain is layered.

They know exactly what this feels like, because they have already lost one of their own children.

They are reliving a wound they never truly healed, while standing helplessly beside me as I live it for the first time.

My parents were never just grandparents.

They were an extension of me.

They helped raise all three of my kids.

That “heart” everyone talks about us having—that came from my mom.

And those thousands of fishing trips?

Those happened because my dad taught them that no matter what, they would always have fishing—and each other.

So my parents aren’t just losing a grandson.

They’re losing a piece of their daughter.

They’re losing a piece of his siblings and the other grandchildren who loved him deeply.

This loss reaches into every corner of our family.

There is hurt in every single one of us right now.

So if you see my mom, give her an extra hug.

And if you pray, send some of those prayers my dad’s way too.

Because we are all hurting—and they are carrying far more than most people can see