I know I sometimes seem overwhelmed, irritated and stressed by my kids. I know I post about it a lot on here. In case you aren’t a parent, parenting is hard. It’s irritating. It’s stressful. You will constantly feel overwhelmed and helpless.

Today one of my friend’s 14-year-old daughter died in a car accident. I was at the park when Blendra text me. I was actually mid-sentence yelling at Anya that she needed to do a better job playing with Logan.

I gasped.

I put my hand over my mouth and I put myself in my friend’s shoes. It was a scary place to be. Sad. (RIP Aubrey Mcneill)

I scoured Facebook for details but there were none yet just nearly a hundred people flooding her Facebook page with prayer and well wishes (the official announcement had not been made yet). I posted a “sorry” message and put my phone back in my purse.

I went back to play with my kids. After all, that’s what I think I should take away from this. I can’t focus on the what-ifs and worry about my kids. If anything, this unfortunate, extremely sad circumstance reminded me that I should be enjoying my kids more.

And as I slowly drove (with my flashers on) behind my scooter-riding kids to another playground at the park, I didn’t care one bit that other drivers were annoyed, shaking their heads and flipping me the bird (one lady even honked).

As I watched my kids scoot (is that the right verb?), I thought of how much fun they were having and that me dealing with the “distractions” was worth every second.