a black day

We received one of those calls last night that no-one ever wants to get. A little girl of 4 had been killed in a hit and run. It was the niece of one of Catrin's friends - a girl that Grace has been to a party with. What makes this even more terrible is that her older brother (who is 6) witnessed the crash - and saw his little sister and mother hit by a car going 70mph. This will be with him for the rest of his life. How can you explain this to a 6 year old? The "accident" happened just yards from their front door - on a quiet residential street. The girl's mother - Rachel has been in theatre all night as they try to save her legs. Her husband had to have the worst conversation they'll ever have when telling her that Olivia had been killed. Olivia has a younger brother - who is 2 and a new baby sister who is just 2 weeks old. One can't begin to imagine what this family must be going through.

Being a parent has made us so much more sensitive and emotional about tragedy -especially when young children are involved. The fact that Catrin knows Rachel and Olivia (albeit through a friend) has brought it that much closer to home. What can you say or do at a time like this? We have sent emails to friends asking for prayers for the family and Catrin cooked a meal for Katie's family (she has 2 boys and is expecting in July) - who has been at her sisters bedside for most of the day. Neither of us slept much last night - and are exhausted by the emotion of what has happened. Our first reaction is probably what most parents do in times like these - gather up your children in your arms and give them a kiss and a cuddle. Suddenly their most recent misdemeanours seem irrelevant. The family are all strong christians - and are very close. Fortunately they all live in Edinburgh so will be some support in these awful times to each other - but it just seems so wrong that a girl of 4 can have her life taken away from her and ripped from her family in such horrific circumstances.

The driver? He ran from the scene and police are trying to find him. He'd had 2 crashes in the 10 minutes before this fatal one. No doubt - when finally caught he'll be given a 5 year ban from driving and 3-5 years in prison...for an offence which is essentially murder and one that has ruined the lives of that family. He'll probably not even show any remorse. It just makes your blood boil. We are completely flat. Reading news articles just makes you want to cry.

However, this evening we had our parents evening at the nursery and were heartened at what we heard about 2 of our wonderful children. The girls looking after Joseph clearly know him very well and love the little chap. He's a cheeky star and is really starting to blossom. They thought he was maybe speaking Welsh - with his chat. We found this hilarious as it's just his complete gobbledegook! He loves babbling away and clearly believes he is having a chat with you - but it's a language that only he "gets". Grace is very independent and knows her mind - she's not easy, but I guess we wouldn't have it any other way - she's very bright (yes, I know I'm biased - but it's true). Bossy, confident and leader were words that were used (or inferred) - and that's about right. The nursery is doing a grand job and we are very happy that both Grace and Joseph enjoy it so much - and more importantly that they have so many friends and like (and are loved by) the teachers. We are both very proud.