The Irish Homecoming: God bless the children - tragedy in Galway reminds us how precious our families are

Death of two babies in tragic car crash in Tuam, Galway, makes April Drew realise there's nothting more important than family

What’s more precious in life than our children? Absolutely nothing, a fact made heartbreakingly clear to April Drew thanks to a tragic news story out of Galway.

It's Sunday evening. I’ve just finished putting my two little babies to bed. After reading to my 22-month-old son, Colum, we said our prayers.

Tonight we thanked God for a wonderful weekend.  We just returned home from celebrating the marriage of John’s cousin and my friend Ailish Markham to her wonderful husband Billy O’Connor.  We also thanked God for all our family, some of whom got a special mention by name.

We prayed for a safe night and a good week, and like we do every night we thank God for our health and pray it always remains good. It’s a top priority in our prayers every night, that last request.

John and I are acutely aware how blessed we are with two healthy children and a very happy life together but sometimes, like everyone I guess, we take it for granted.

We fight about the silly things (whose turn it is to take out the garbage, or who is next to change our daughter Sadie’s latest diaper disaster). We complain about each other to our friends and we go through life very often not living in the present. Aren’t we all guilty of planning ahead too much and not seeing what’s right in front of us?

And every few weeks we hear of someone else’s misfortune. Sometimes we experience first-hand the devastation that loss can have on us, and other times a simple news article can give us a good wake-up call.

Tonight I got that wakeup call again. I was just about to sit down to begin working on the Irish Voice’s sister publication, Irish Central Community News, when I briefly brought up online the Irish news of the day to see what bits I missed over the weekend while we were out celebrating the wedding.

A family in Co. Offaly is torn apart by loss and the unknown. Their daughter Catherine’s murdered body is still missing in Wales. A man has been charged with the 37-year-old’s murder.

A misfortunate soul was killed in a house fire in Co. Fermanagh on Sunday evening; no doubt this man leaves devastated family and friends behind. 

A man in his thirties out for a spin on his motorcycle on Sunday afternoon died after he collided with a car; more sad news.

I have a quick read through some economic and political pieces before I see it.

The headline says it all. I need not read any further. “Two Children Killed in Co. Galway Road Crash.”

My stomach begins to churn. A shiver runs through my spine. I rub my arms up and down to warm the goose bumps that have formed ever so quickly.  My uplifting mood instantly slumps.

I open the story. I have to read it, but I know details of their deaths won’t be important.

Two children are dead on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. They live in Galway, an hour away. Their names are Katie and Grace Gilmore.

Just after lunch a father took his two precious daughters out for a walk. I’m sure he wasn’t the only father in Ireland (or in the U.S.) on Sunday afternoon out for a walk with his children. Katie was two and her baby sister only 12-weeks.

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Nster.com