I Can Relate
Last week, my family followed the horror story of the plane crash in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The media here has forgotten it, of course, but in Brazil they are still playing it up.
My heart goes out to all of those people who lost loved ones in this accident. The incident strikes close to home, for me, in many ways. I grew up in Sao Paulo, and in fact lived practically next door to that very airport for awhile. Every time the planes took off or came in, they would cause interference with our TV. I flew in and out of that airport many times with my parents. Picked up friends and family at that airport.
Then my husband tells the story of one of the victims. Heart wrenching as all of these stories would be, this one really got to me. The interview was done with a father, 41 years old (DH just turned 41 on the 18th) who lost his 14 year old daughter on that plane. (Our oldest daughter is 14.) An over protective father (like my DH), he finally consented to letting the girl take this trip on her own. While she was waiting to get on the plane, she called him on his cell phone and said something to the effect of, "Daddy, thank you so much for letting me do this. I love you so much and I'll never forget it." Or something like that.
Those were the last words he would ever hear from her mouth. And I broke into tears immediately, because I pictured the girl with my daughter's face, and the dad with my husband's face. He is one of those "overprotective" dads and he would have had a very hard time letting his 14 year old fly anywhere on her own. I couldn't help but think of that poor man and the remorse he must be feeling right about now. If only he'd held out just a little longer...
But we can't spend our life thinking what if, can we?
I pray that God will bring grace and comfort to all of those grieving at this time. And to the family of the pilot who was, at least at first, taking most of the heat for the accident.
My heart goes out to all of those people who lost loved ones in this accident. The incident strikes close to home, for me, in many ways. I grew up in Sao Paulo, and in fact lived practically next door to that very airport for awhile. Every time the planes took off or came in, they would cause interference with our TV. I flew in and out of that airport many times with my parents. Picked up friends and family at that airport.
Then my husband tells the story of one of the victims. Heart wrenching as all of these stories would be, this one really got to me. The interview was done with a father, 41 years old (DH just turned 41 on the 18th) who lost his 14 year old daughter on that plane. (Our oldest daughter is 14.) An over protective father (like my DH), he finally consented to letting the girl take this trip on her own. While she was waiting to get on the plane, she called him on his cell phone and said something to the effect of, "Daddy, thank you so much for letting me do this. I love you so much and I'll never forget it." Or something like that.
Those were the last words he would ever hear from her mouth. And I broke into tears immediately, because I pictured the girl with my daughter's face, and the dad with my husband's face. He is one of those "overprotective" dads and he would have had a very hard time letting his 14 year old fly anywhere on her own. I couldn't help but think of that poor man and the remorse he must be feeling right about now. If only he'd held out just a little longer...
But we can't spend our life thinking what if, can we?
I pray that God will bring grace and comfort to all of those grieving at this time. And to the family of the pilot who was, at least at first, taking most of the heat for the accident.
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