One morning we were running very late. I drove my son directly to school without stopping at the sitter so he could get there on time. Then I drove to work. I was so used to driving directly to work after dropping my son at school that I did it without thinking. And I was distracted from being late already.
Thanks be to God that I looked in the back seat as I shut the car door. There was my beautiful daughter in her car seat looking up at me, quiet as a mouse.
You can judge if you want, but try having mercy instead. Human beings make mistakes. Sometimes horrible mistakes. If I had lost my daughter I would never have been able to live with the guilt
I had a change in routine one morning, too. I usually did not drop my toddler daughter anywhere- my husband and I worked different shifts, so she just stayed home with him. One day, I had to drop her off with Grandma, due to him having an appointment. On auto-pilot, I started to drive to work and was halfway to the freeway before something caught my attention, and I remembered she was there. I was in such a panic, thinking what if I’d made it a the way to work and forgotten her? Change in routine, fatigue, overloaded... Unfortunately, I understand this one, too- as terrible as it can be to wrap my brain around, I realized that day, it could happen to me.