He'd heard many times that in the moment before dying, a man's life flashed before his eyes; in this moment, it was his son's life that Liam saw.
A small red face and wrinkled little body swaddled in a white hospital blanket and nestled against Colleen's breast. And he felt again how deeply he loved them both. A frightened toddler squirming into bed beside him during a thunderstorm, and he remembered the sweet smell of his son's breath against his face as they snuggled. A little boy standing in the firelight wide-eyed but proud during his naming ceremony. And Liam's own pride at how straight his son stood. A kid with doe-colored hair struggling to hold back tears because his father had spoken to him more harshly than necessary about a lost screwdriver.
"A lost screwdriver," Liam whispered. "Jesus." And now he was the one struggling to hold back tears. Tears of regret for his pointless anger at a child. Tears of gratitude for the blessing that was his son. Tears of relief that the ordeal was over and Cork was alive.
Holly Margl is the award-winning author of Witnessing Grief; Inviting Trauma and Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective, coach, coach mentor, and trainer specializing in grief, trauma, and the Enneagram.
