It's hug your kid day

Or any other loved one that you can get your hands on.

Yesterday we received a "parent broadcast" (a recorded message sent to all the parents) from our son's school. The principal reported that they were sad to announce that one of the students had "passed away" earlier that morning at his home.

My initial reaction was a lump in my stomach. How must his parents feel? Was it due to an illness? How easily this could be my child.

When my son came home from school today I asked him if they had talked about this boy. He said the teachers did not mention anything other than the info we got from the phone call. He did hear this boy's friends talking of possible suicide. Apparently this boy was very troubled. He was taking drugs, many behavior/discipline issues at school. They have a demerit system in which each student starts with 100 points at the beginning of the year. His point total was in the negative. Unfortunately it sounds like this boy was in a deep depression and was crying out for help....in his own way. It is so sad to see an unneccesary loss of life. He was only in 8th grade...probably 13 or 14 years old.

Makes me want to hug my kids a million times today. Of course they might get a little annoyed with me, but I don't care.