Zeoli: My Prayers To The Biden Family
By Rich Zeoli
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There is an old gypsy curse: may you outlive your children. I grieve for Joe Biden having to walk through hell not once but twice. My parents experienced that ultimate pain several years ago. Forget the cliche. Time doesn't heal all wounds. Even the saying 'having your heart ripped out' doesn't begin to tap the surface of the pain parents suffer when the lose a child.
I remember the day my father called. My brother had been in a fatal car accident. I remember it like was two minutes ago. Some memories simply don't dull over time. When I walked into my parents' house and saw the look on their faces I realized that for them life would never be the same. Years of grief counseling and then finally coming to understand that a part of all of us died along with my brother and a second life began in those moments. We are all a little more callous now. It's as if we entered a new reality. We look back at our former selves and wonder how they are all doing now.
Not to sound like a schmaltzy gum commercial, but we really do hug a little longer now.
I see my parents with their grandson, my son Patrick, and I see a purity in their smiles that I haven't seen since before December 20, 2002. I wonder if my wife can see what I see because it's not just the love every grandparent feels reflecting off their faces. It's as if they have been given another chance to spend time with an innocent child before the harshness of life and death comes calling. I don't think she can see it, I think only someone who has witnessed that kind of suffering can see what I see in my mother's eyes when her grandson smiles at her. And I am so happy my wife can't see what I see.
And because I was a firsthand witness to such an indescribable pain I haven't had a full night sleep since my son was born seven months ago. I know most new parents are in that same boat, but for me it's different. I don't want to ever go through what my parents went through. Please God, not that.
My prayer is that my son will be by our side when we shuffle off this mortal coil. And my ultimate prayer is that Patrick's children, our grandchildren, will be there to say goodbye to him when God calls him home 100 plus years from now.
Today my prayers are for the Bidens.