Friday, April 30, 2010

Happy Birthday, Zachary


Today is my son Zachary's birthday.

What do you say to people when they ask, "Do you have any children? How old are they?" It is a hard question for me.

Zachary died June 18, 1993. He was 13 when he died. He was at a wilderness camp, and he had a heat stroke. The head counselor tried his best to get him to a hospital, driving while trying to do CPR on my son at the same time. He drove this way for two hours until they reached a town that had an ambulance. Then, it was over an hour until they reached a town with a hospital. By then he was in a coma, and he died shortly after.

Zachary was a good boy, a sweet boy, and my baby. I have a daughter who will be 32 this year. We never see each other, but that's a whole other story. I still love her, though.

So when people ask how many children I have, I tell them that I have two. Then, I hope that the subject can be changed before I have to go into all the rest of my story. Not that I don't want to talk about Zachary, but I'd rather talk about him with family who knew him and loved him.

I remember when I had to start using a cane. My daughter was embarrassed and wouldn't walk beside me or anywhere near me, so that no one knew we were together. Zachary didn't mind, though. He was able to accept the cane and just see me as his mom.

Sweetheart, I miss you and I love you. You will always be in my heart and still a part of me. Mom

1 comment:

  1. Awww, Maryann, I'm so sorry to read about your dear son, Zachary. How your heart must ache for him! He would have turned 30 this year. What a tragedy!

    My youngest (dtr) will turn 30 in December. I can't imagine the pain of losing a child at any age. We're supposed to go first, right?

    I admire your upbeat attitude and positive outlook. Enjoy eating out this week! Hugs, Twink

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