I'm going to Oakland

[boston bean]

My son said this nearly every day to me over the last many summers.

Oakland is a town park with a basketball court. He and his friends would meet up there to play some ball and hang together.

The town is considering renaming the court.

One of my sons good friend who he met at Oakland almost everyday he was home, and who spent time in my home to have pizza while watching sports game, died. The town will rename the court in his honor.

It was a tragic auto/pedestrian accident. My heart breaks for his mum and dad. He was their only child. My heart breaks for him to have his life cut so short. My heart aches for my son and all the mutual friends who had to witness the burial of their 19 year old friend.

Sorry to be off topic, but hold the ones you love close.

[seabeyond]

1. ya, that is sad sad and so hard. i have a woman that lost her son, i think he was 19 also,

in an auto accident. i look at her and remember her son, and that she feels that loss every day. and i am so so so sad for her.

yes. i hear ya.

[boston bean]

2. Sea it haunts me. Their pain....

[seabeyond]

3. it does. and it wont stop. i do nto know why this one stays with me as it does. but it does.

and it is like two years since the accident. everytime i see her i feel the pain.

[gopiscrap]

4. OMG condolences

[boston bean]

5. Thank you. It's just so awful.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. I worked with a woman (until very recently) who buried her then 17y/o daughter just

four months before I met her. This woman radiates/beams a true light. Pure of spirit. Genuinely, one of the nicest people I have ever met. Would do anything to help another person. One day, at work, she had chest pains, rapid heart beat. Leave now, I said, go directly to the ER. Stubbornly, she refused, saying ... I am ready to go be with Lauren. Mark and Hunter (her husband and son) are fine. They don't need me and I want to be with her.

The tears started streaming down my face.

What could I say to make her think there was anything left on this earth for her to stay for?

It broke my heart.

Words. Useless words. All I had.

Told her that Hunter does still need her and he will marry one day and she will live to see her grandkids.

Finally, we convinced her to at least call her Dr and she did. He worked her in immediately and her BP was elevated. He put her on BP meds and the next day she was herself again.

I swear, I can see a halo hovering above her head.

anyway, my condolences to the family and your son and you. I am sorry for your loss.

[seabeyond]

7. what a story tuesday.... has to be the hardest. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. can not even imagine it. the heartbreak of burying a child. eom.

[ismnotwasm]

9. I so sorry

These are the most difficult of situations to endure