An offer of great thanks from my family.

[hillslider]

I just got back home from a 5 days of hell. I flew up north to be with my brother and his wife. I can not put into words the grief they are going through dealing with the loss of their 6 year old son. Of my 32 years on Gods earth I have not experienced such pain as I felt attending the funeral of a child. I read though all of your post and I say thank you for the thoughts and prayers. My brother and wife have a very long and hard road ahead of them. I do not want to get to carried away but here are a few things that are in front of them. Borrowing money to pay for the funeral....I will as my family will help out as much financially as posssible but the bills are staggering. They have a 6 month old to care for during all of this pain. They are expecting another child. They decided just a few weeks ago to have another and there wish was granted. I do not know what they are going to do. I will be praying for them for a long time.

Again...Thank you alll for keeping my family close to your hearts and for them I ask you all to continue to pray for them.

Rob

 

[tracdoc]

You, your brother and his family will remain in our thoughts and prayers...

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Evening Rob,

I'd like to offer an observation.

Life is transitional. It's always in a state of flux. So when something's especially wonderful we need to embrace it. Because it won't last.

The interesting thing is this is also what will give us the strength to endure a hardship. It won't last. There will be another day. It won't be the same, never is. But there will be change.

I haven't lost a child or grandchild yet. I hope I don't. But I have been with friends when they've suffered such a devastating loss. They've survived and they've done fine.

Your brother and his wife will make it through this. And hopefully all of us will take from this tragedy the lesson that it can happen anytime anywhere to us. So we embrace the good moments. They're memories we might need down the road.

As for you, your love for your brother and his family makes others love you without needing to meet you face to face. It's intriguing how giving love will get you love. And not always from the expected places or at the expected time.

I wish you well and your brother and his wife peace and smiles when the thought of a son gone too soon crosses their minds.

 

[caddison]

Rob,

I have been thinking of your brother and his family and I have shared your story with many people. I just finished creating a large pile of dirt at my brother-in-law's place where he is working on a new addition. My six year old nephew was playing on top of the mountain of dirt and I told my brother-in-law your story.....made him think and we both told his son about digging on the dirt pile.

I feel for your brother as I am an insurance agent and often talk to people about starting a life insurance program for their children....I won't stand on a soapbox here but I often bring up the case of a parent having to take out a loan to pay for a funeral and then having to think about it every time he makes a payment. I have a client that has a two year old son. Being fairly new I hadn't gotten the time to visit with him about the boy's life insurance. About a month ago they found out their son has cancer. I have been kicking myself ever since.

For all of us that have children please think about a life insurance program for their future, hope you never have to use it and start their future financial plans off now....as you can tell I feel rather passionately about this! A twenty dollar a month life insurance payment is a lot easier than a loan payment for a funeral...hope I am not out of line here. It really hurts to hear of someone going through this. God Bless you all.

 

[DannyD]

Caddison,

From a former insurance agent and a father that has lost a child, you are right on with childrens insurance. Our daughter's funeral was a little over 7000.00 and we would have had to borrow if we had not had a bit over 20,000.00 in coverage, thru work and a personal policy. One thing I can not imagine is having this bill to pay along with the extreme heartache of loss of a child. You are giving good advice indeed.

Also folks while on the subject, get your funeral arrangements in order before need. My father died Jan 1 of this year. My parents are well off, not rich, but God has provided well for them. The fact that at his death we had only the casket spray to pay for made for a more meaningful and pleasant service and visitation. After his death, the hospital made one call, and all was done! When we got to the home, we had nothing to do but honor our Dad and Father, with no worries about bills etc.

In contrast, his brother died 5 weeks later, no insurance, no pre arrangement, and all the kids helping pay for this.

 

[GerardC]

Insurance.....

Better to have it and not use it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif than to need it and not have it /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. Good advice indeed. G

 

[riptides]

I might add get accidental death and dismemberment while you are thinking about it. I did not elect to have ADD and suffered a life changing event many years ago. Accidents do happen and the cost of medical bills, even WITH insurance is
staggering....


May peace and comfort seek you and your families out.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif