Saturday, January 19, 2013

Saddest Day in Italy

Well, I was hoping to have some lighthearted blogpost to share with you all, but the fact is, I don't.  The fact is that we live in Italy, as do a lot of other American families and we all still have lives.  We have good days and bad.  We shuttle kids to school and activities.  We get in car accidents.  We get sick.  We  keep on living our lives...and sometimes we even have tragedies.

This week was an awful week for one particular family that I'm quite fond of.  They lost their 7 year old son yesterday.  He wasn't feeling well one day and less than a week later, he was gone.  Type I Diabetes was the cause, and yet last week, they didn't know he had it.

Today I found out he passed away.  I didn't even know this was happening until I read his Mom's Facebook message about his passing and his upcoming memorial service.  This sweet family spent a lot of time at the hotel pool we were staying in this summer visiting other friends they had, and we got to know them.  Ivan LOVED to play with this little boy.  He brought some pretty cool pool toys over, they enjoyed playing foosball at the hotel...and they swam until they were prunes.

We enjoyed some barbecues together throughout the summer and into the fall.  This is a top notch family.  The kind of family that would do anything for anyone.  They offered us a car when they heard one of ours was in the shop.  And not their beater, but their nice car from the states.  This was a perfect military family and now they are shadowed by this tragedy.

I cried all day.  I held my kids close.  I prayed.  I briefly spoke to the Mom, some pretty unintelligible babble probably on my part.  I cannot even imagine what life is like for them today or what it will be.  I cannot imagine even for a second what they are dealing with or going through, but I know that the rage of this happening at all, was overshadowed by the fact that this happened in Italy.  All day I asked myself, "Would he still be alive if they were in the States?"

And there is no answer to that question.

It happened and it happened in Italy.

I ask that you all join me in prayer for this sweet family.


3 comments:

  1. That is so sad when a parent loses a child, no matter the cause. Prayers for everyone—the family, you and your family, all those who know them. Plus those who did what they could to save him. Peace.

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  2. Thank you Uncle Stu. I know we are all feeling them.

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  3. I am overwhelmed. Pls let this family know I am praying for them.

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