We've all watched it, we've all heard the emotional music backing it.

Anakin is walking away from his home on Tatooine with Qui-Gonn when he turns and runs back to his Mother for the last hug he will ever get from her in their life time.

What if it were your son... would you let him go?

I have been thinking about this scene since this morning when my ex called to ask "did you hear about the child who died on a bus yesterday?".

By the time I got into work, I had an email from our fellow blogger, DPM, with the details.

Apparently a kingergartener, just having left his school for the bus ride home, began choking on something that the article called an "unidentified object - not food related". (UPDATE: It has just been released that the boy choked on a thumb-tack he had used for a project at school.) The bus driver did all he could - stopping the bus as soon as he was aware of the issue (the child sitting next to the little boy told him what was going on) and dialing 911. As it would be, the bus stopped just a few hundred yards from the central fire station who was quick to respond - and only a few streets away from the boys home.

The little boy was taken by ambulance to the hospital with his Mom and younger brother escorted behind it in a police cruiser.

After two hours, the boy was indeed pronounced dead much to the dismay of the hospital workers, the rescue crew, the bus driver and, worst of all, his family. He was only 5.

So, you wonder, why I am I sharing this with you?

Well, I know that there are other Mom's and Dad's out there like me who, in the hustle and bustle of their busy morning schedule, rush our kids to get everything done, get out the door and off to school and work so that we are not late. Sometimes we give our kids that one last kiss or hug before they get on the bus but, sometimes that opportunity is missed... in this case, never to be had again.

Perhaps in honor of this little boy, who's life had barely begun, we could hold our sons and daughters for just an extra minute at bedtime tonight... and then, make sure to hug and kiss them before they leave for school tomorrow morning.

Life is so precious.... and so very short.

Thanks for visiting today. I will leave a box of tissues near the door for you on the way out.

xoxo