It Really Gets to Me

Today we took Jack to his friend Ava's first birthday party (more to come on that later) and on the way there we saw something that was truly disturbing and I felt so helpless. As we were driving to the party we stopped at a stoplight and a car pulled up next to us on my side of the car. I looked over and saw the following:

4 small children and an adult crammed into the backseat of the car. 3 of them were not in car seats and the 4th was a small infant who was in a car seat, forward facing, that was not secured on a base or with a seat belt. In the front, on the passenger side, was an adult reclined in his/her seat with a small child (less than 2 years old) standing on the floor in front of the seat. The child was STANDING in front of the adult, facing the rear of the car playing with a Leap Frog!!!

As tears welled up in my eyes, I so badly wanted to jump out of the car and scream and yell at the adults in the other car. Don't they know that a simple rear-ending would severely injure, if not kill, all the kids in their car?? Didn't they care? I asked Chris if we should call the police or do something but he said that there was really nothing we could do. As we drove off I said a prayer that those kids would be protected.

I can't really stop thinking about that situation. Before I had Jack this would have bothered me but now things like this deeply affect me. I wish that everyone understood that each and every child is such a blessing.