Prayers To The Clouse Family

Usually I try to keep my blogs semi-lighthearted with a splash of sarcasm, a twist of morals and then I top it off with a dash of lesson learned. Not tonight.

I am blogging to express my sorrow, sympathy and prayers to the Clouse family of Blaine, PA who lost seven of their eight children to a house fire this morning. This is an unimaginable tragedy that I cannot even begin to wrap my head around.

I always said that I didn't want to have kids. Then came Evel. He has been the motivation behind everything that has kept me out of trouble since I was 17 years old. And then I met Big Daddy and Tink and my family grew. And finally, we welcomed Nutt. Our family is now complete (minus the numerous stray animals that I want to adopt).

I could not fathom losing a single person from my family (imaginary dogs included), especially one of my children. I have found the people that I intend on spending the rest of my life with and I don't want that to change. Hell, I get butterflies at the thought of getting MORE time with Tink!

But to lose all but one of your children at one time? The thought alone makes me sick. Nutt was particularly obnoxious today but all I could think of is that in Blaine, a mother will never get to see SEVEN of her children again. Ever. They are gone. And my heart broke every single time.

So I hope that you all kiss your kids goodnight and hug them a little tighter when you lay them down to sleep tonight. Be thankful that you have them. Yes, they drive you crazy and get detention because they get caught with iPod touches in school or insist that you watch them do cartwheels (for an hour straight) or they cry because you leave the room (and leave them with that evil man that you call "Daddy")...but if you didn't sigh and roll your eyes (but watch them or pick them up) or ground them for a week, you wouldn't be a parent.

I doubt that Mrs. Clouse ever expected to go out to the barn and milk her cows and never see seven of her eight children again. I bet she was thinking about everything she had to do that night and I wonder if she thought about what to make for dinner the next day (like I often do). I don't think the thought of her house catching on fire ever crossed her mind (and I read that there were no smoke detectors. A complete OCD checkpoint for me). And then to not be able to get into your house to save your kids? I could not imagine. That poor mother. My heart breaks for her because I can only imagine what thoughts would be going through my head.

So the moral of this blog is that children are not something to be taken for granted. Any fool can make a baby, but it takes someone special to really be a parent. Be thankful for every second that you have with them. You never know when they'll be gone.