"The baby ... the baby!!!"

The day was warm and the sun was out and we were experiencing some pleasant short sun showers. Miguel and I had just returned from dropping off packages at the local UPS store and he entered the house while I headed to the neighbors to see the dress she had been sewing and wanted me to look at.

I heard our front door open and close again and it was Miguel who joined me as a different neighbour stopped us and asked if we could help her mover her freezer and a few other belongings to her new home around the corner. She and Miguel headed over to her house so he could get an idea of the amount of things she needed to move and I turned back to my friend's house.

The sun was warming my shoulders and the odd drop of rain was falling on my face and nose and the contrast was striking. Suddenly, as I reached the front door step I heard a male voice calling from across the street "Baby" I paused only briefly conjecturing I really did not want to see who was yelling Baby at me, or anyone else on the street.

Again the male voice boomed out, this time with a real note of desperation in his voice.

"The baby!" he yelled. Noting 'the' I turned and as I did he yelled again; "THE Baby!!" I caught in the corner of my eye Elsa's curly red hair and her pink plaid sun dress.

She was hesitatingly crossing the very busy road we live on. She was almost half way through our side of the road and coming on that side was a car. Her gaze was intent on the other side of the road and on Miguel who was already too far away to do anything but watch helplessly. My mind went into a blur and everything around me shut down while Elsa's tiny body and uncertain steps crystallized in my mind. I was tearing towards her without even knowing I was running. My breath was hoarse in my throat and my arms stretched out to grasp her to my chest, enclosing her warm body next to my heart. She felt the fear in my body and melted into me whilst looking into my face, my terror reflecting in her eyes.

With the car closing in behind me, my feet meet the grass and then our red brick path. I continued running until I was on our door step and gasping I pulled open the front door. She did not move, but clung to me as tightly as I was hugging her. Her curls were pressed under my chin and I called out as I entered the house; "Who left the door open, who left the door open?" and then I burst into tears.

Elsa tenderly reached up and touched my cheeks saying: "Don't cwy mummy, don't cwy!" Then Emma, also concerned by my tears, attempted to force feed me french fries. (Clearly the child finds comfort in food.) We were quickly surrounded by the family all of them anxious to see Elsa and know that their darling baby sister was okay. She was and is. Thanks be to God and a young man whom I never saw but only heard who, whilst frozen to the spot, had the presence of mind to cry out the only thing he could think of; "The baby... The baby!"

I love my children dearly, but something like this really reminds one just how precious they really are to you! In the twinkling of an eye their life can be robbed from you. We never know when that moment will come and while I do want to live in fear of the loss of a child, I would do well to remember this and to guard against having regrets should I someday actually experience the loss of a child.