Touches

Yesterday, I heard of a local family that is in the throes of an unthinkable tragedy.  All day (and I don't imagine that this feeling will go away any time soon), I was a little bit off.  Part of me is in absolute "heartbreak mode" for them and the other part of me is in absolute "take my breath away in fear mode" at the thought of losing a child. I have trouble even writing that.  There are truly no words for what they are living right now.  They are, and forever will be, broken.  This family will need (and will have) love and support from now until forever, I am sure. Their family and friends will be there for them - for when they need them, for when they don't need them, for when they think they don't need them and for every moment in between.

It made me think about the little touches in life that we live each day, each week, each month that we don't really think about.  Those little touches that truly affect us, in ways big and small, that we don't even realize. I'm not talking about the one and done touches and I'm also not talking about the huge, obvious life changing touches.  I'm talking about the day to day, week to week, repeat touches that we live over and over that are (seemingly) quite tiny compared to the other "bigger" things in our lives. But really when it comes right down to it, it's these little moments - these touches - that fill out our lives and get us from where we are to where we are going.  They happen so quickly, we often miss them. But without them, there'd be a lot of "life holes" to be filled.

I know that it's not always the biggest, loudest, earth-shattering, life-changing moments that touch our lives that have the most impact.
I know that it's not always the biggest, loudest, earth-shattering life-changing people that touch our lives that have the most impact.

I know that it's the little things that when put together, have a big, loud, earth-shattering, life-changing impact. Every day. 

And I also know that I will miss his little peeks around the doorway every Thursday afternoon.  I will miss his little footsteps racing down the hallway.

We may not have known him all that well.
But he touched us.  And we will miss his touches.