This picture just showed up in my memories on Facebook from seven years ago today.
I started crying the minute I saw it.
Because that’s my kids right there… walking knee deep at night in the exact lagoon at the Grand Floridian resort at Disney where the little two-year-old boy was tragically snatched by the alligator.
I had forgotten all about it.
We had been making s'mores on the beach (an organized hotel activity) when my daughter noticed that her flip flop had gone missing, so my kids went into the water to look for it.
There were no signs posted to warn us about the possibility of alligators. Nothing telling us to stay out of the water. So my kids started wading in and happily splashing around as kids do.
Did they find the shoe? I don’t remember. But what I do remember is that they walked back to the hotel this way the entire time.
My husband and I were walking right next to them, smiling and laughing, probably feeling blessed.
Not once did we worry about an alligator attack.
I was standing close enough to my kids to take this picture. But if an alligator had suddenly materialized and dragged one of them under?
I don’t think there’s any way either one of us could have saved them.
An important reminder not to judge other parents. Because life can change in the blink of an eye—and it can happen to any single one of us, at any random time.
Lucky for us, this was not the last walk we would ever take with our children. But for another set of parents it was.
My whole being aches for Melissa and Matt Graves, who had to say goodbye to their little boy Lane at his funeral yesterday.
I hope that one day their hearts will begin to mend, and they will somehow be able to move on and find some peace.
And in the meantime, let’s all stop blaming them now, ok?