I am humbled to be a finalist for the 2015 National Association of REALTORS Good Neighbor Award. I wrote this post in 2008, but after being asked by lots of followers to share my story, I am resharing my post.
In 2004, the new year was just beginning for us. The holidays were over, our two kids were safely back at their homes, and I
was starting to think that the Christmas tree needed to be tackled next...but it could wait a day or two...or maybe longer.
On January 9th, at FOUR IN THE MORNING, the doorbell rang at our home.
My husband headed to the door thinking, "Who in the world is here at this hour?"
Almost instantly, he came back to the bedroom and said, "There are two police officers here - they won't say what they want."
Grabbing my robe, I ran to the door. One of the police officers started to extend his hand as if to shake my hand and said, "Could we please sit down?"
Instantly, my knees felt like rubber and the tears began to run down my face when I asked them, "WHICH ONE OF MY KIDS?!" My heart was telling me why they were here.
Personally, I did not want to hear him saying that he was the Chaplin at the St Joseph Police Dept., as I repeated "Which one of my Kids?"
He spoke very softly, trying to offer his sympathies. Finally, I heard him say: "Mark..."
As my knees weakened and I found the sofa, my husband asked, "How did it happen?"
The other officer said they didn't have complete information other than the fact that it involved a mountain lion...
I kept telling myself this cannot be REAL-it's a dream-- it HAS to be a DREAM. After all, I just talked with Mark yesterday. He was leaving to go to Phoenix with the motocross riders he represented and he would call me on Monday,
Then, he said simply, "Mom, I love you."
Through the years of raising our 2 kids there was a mutual understanding and awareness "As a child they were important"so we always strived to never put off until tomorrow what they needed today. Dinner was together as a family, we attended the activities they were involved in, we spent time each day with them to really listen to them and to know how their day was (all the important stuff) They knew their friends were welcome at a moment's notice for dinner at our house.
They both knew and understood the word Love and it was expressed every day in our home.
When you live through such a tragic accident as a parent, you never get over the loss of your child and there is never an understanding of why it happened in the first place.
In case you were wondering, that is a photo above of our beloved son Mark. To learn more about his fund, visit
www.markreynoldsfund.org
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