Can we just remember that we are all human?

Many years go when we were on vacation, Zach slipped out of our cabin. Nobody saw this.  In fact, many of the adults awoke that morning to discover him missing. He was only able to get his two-year-old self out because one of the adults left early to go fishing and could not lock the door from the outside. By the time we realized he was missing, the maintenance crew was headed our way with him. He had been playing on the stairs leading into the shallow end of the pool.  These were not particularly wide stairs, just normal pool stairs.  He could not swim and was wearing a diaper.

Our cabin backed up to a pond known to house alligators and was surrounded by woods known to house rattlesnakes.  The outcome could have been very different. To this day we have an image of a pool in a shadow box as one of the markers/memorial stones reminding us of what God has done for us.

I share this because so many are so quick to post comments on social media blaming parents for accidents.  Accidents happen even with vigilant parents.  Guess what - I suspect these parents are already putting themselves through what the finger pointers want them to experience.  They don't need that.

I can say one thing for sure.  If our outcome had been different, our family would be totally different. I am quite certain I would not have had the confidence to adopt, and Savannah would have grown up with helicopter parents (at least one) who probably would have destroyed her in our attempts to protect her.

Let's have some compassion.  Nobody is perfect, and we do not live in a perfect world.  I would venture to say that the recent accidents that have made national news did not happen to negligent parents.

Can I just add that the fact that Zach and I survived his childhood is miraculous?  He has been a night owl since birth.  As a pre-schooler he outlasted me on many nights.  I had to get up and work the next day and could not stay up past 10 or 11, and Andy was working nights.   I asked his doctor for help with this and was told that if he was prone to that sleeping schedule, nothing short of a brick could change it.  I awoke one morning to find my front door standing wide open.  I think the only reason Zach did not venture out into the night was because he was afraid of the dark - praise God for that fear!  One morning I could not find him anywhere.  I knew he was in the house because the deadbolts were all still locked.  I finally located him curled up behind a stuffed chair in the living room.  There, but for the grace of God, go I.