Finding Hope After Loss — Part 2 The Summer Everything Changed

The Summer Everything Changed

It was Saturday May 20, 2006  at 9:36 a.m. when the phone rang.

Clay was having a snack, and I had just laid Ty down for a nap. Randy and Lane had just left for Wrigley Field West for picture day—matching t-shirts and ball caps on, ready for the day ahead. Lane was seven years old. Randy was one of his coaches.

I knew the moment the phone rang and heard the voice on the other end that someone was gone. I truly knew it.

Picture day was unfolding like any other—friends, families, kids in uniforms—when tragedy struck. In an instant, life divided into before and after. As we followed the ambulance toward the hospital, the weight of what had happened was already settling in, not just on our family, but on an entire community.

Lane was flown to a children’s hospital that could care for him, and I never left his side. In those hardest moments, Lane and I could truly feel God’s presence. He was right there with us, making it clear we were not alone. We were surrounded by love—by people who showed up, prayed, sat quietly, and carried us when we could not carry ourselves.

In the middle of all that grief, one prayer kept rising in my heart: that fear would not take root in a place that had once been filled with joy. And God answered that prayer—not all at once, but gently.

What followed was not the end of our grief, but the beginning of healing. Hope didn’t arrive loudly. It came quietly—through community, courage, and a seven-year-old boy brave enough to step back onto a ball field.

The summer everything changed broke my heart.
But it did not break our faith.

Closing Scripture

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18