By Olivia Rossi
RN, MSN, ACSM
Your Personal Trainer

When they’re little you can hug them and kiss it better. The childhood tragedies, the beloved pets who die, moving away from friends, the tears . . . but what do you do when they are twenty-five or thirty and far away and hurting? What can you do for your child? How do you make the pain go away?

Being a parent never changes the pain you feel when your children are hurting, no matter how old they are, no matter whether that pain is physical or emotional. Many years ago I wrote this poem for a friend of ours. Her son was in pre-school with our son. His little brother got burned and his parents were hurting right along with him.

Last month, another friend of our son’s was badly injured in Afghanistan by an incoming attack while he was in his bunk. He had twelve pieces of shrapnel removed. His parents are hurting, our son is hurting and we are hurting. The words I wrote when our son was a little boy haven’t changed.

A Mother’s Prayer
Child of my flesh
It was of love that you were born
And through love that you now grow
and laugh and feel.
We’ve shared yesterdays
of smiles and joy, but
Today I share your pain and tears,
pain also born of love, for
without love there is no pain.
Today my heart breaks for you,
aches for you, my son,
Because your pain is mine, but
My heart leaps for tomorrow
when your smile and
your joy will be mine
again, too,
And my love will be deeper
for the pain
and the joy.

By Olivia Rossi, RN, MSN, ACSM
Your Personal Trainer