How the Mothers Who Have Lost Children Seem to Recognize Each Other

 

 

    Today I was on a quick shopping trip as I bought a cooler, some ice and some drinks as we all planned to meet later and have a family "Paint-it-All" at our daughter's new house.  I was in a hurry, but before I paid for the items in the cart and got the ice,  I left the cart, and I stopped in to the large bathroom.   The music was too loud in the ladies room, and a woman in the bathroom and myself were washing our hands.  She made a comment about the music and when we looked at each other, there was a recognition of sorts.  It's truly strange the way that people who have lost a child seem to recognize this in another.  I would like to think that I do not have a perpetually lost or sad look, but perhaps I do. Perhaps my loss is indelibly printed on my face sufficiently to be recognized by another mother.  Before I knew it, the woman was telling me that her son had been in a car accident within our area some years ago, and that when the police and ambulance arrived, that he was gone. Despite searches with dogs and other policework, no trace of him has ever been found. Police wondered if he wandered from the crash site, and drowned in a body of water some distance from there, but no body has ever been found.   Once again, I know where my youngest son is, but so many people I have met or with whom I have had contact lately, do not.  It seems young adults disappear with some frequency never to be heard from again.   She had a good operational knowledge of all the young men who have disappeared locally, and there are quite a few.  I hope I run into her again sometime.   I also hope my remaining sons being armed will be enough to keep them safe.   I would like to believe that young adult children being missing, and not being found for years is a rarity.  It certainly does not seem to be.


       

"One More Time" Richard Marx