01/09/2022
Teddy
It’s takes a minute for your whole life to change.
It doesn’t seem fair, especially when it comes to our children.
We spend every waking moment caring for them- even before their arrival, we prioritize their health and safety.
Nursing, nurturing, feeding, bathing- we buckle them in carseats, apply sunscreen, tighten helmets and still, sometimes life happens.
Yesterday, it happened to Teddy Balkind.
Teddy was a well-loved tenth grader at St. Luke’s School and from New Canaan, Connecticut where he previously attended public schools.
Fifteen year old Teddy was playing in a JV ice hockey game at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut when he collided with another player and fell to the ice, his neck landing on the other boy’s skate.
A routine play turned tragic accident and though Teddy was immediately transported to Greenwich Hospital and rushed into surgery, his injury was too severe to survive.
An injury from a simple play of just chasing a puck- called by spectators- “entirely normal and unremarkable on its face.”
I wish we knew the why.
I wish we knew why terrible things happen to good people.
I wish life was fair.
When my own big brother died- my only sibling- my fifteen year old self tried to wish it away, tried to make sense of an undeserved death.
Prayers for peace though not for understanding because this wasn’t anyone’s fault- not the other child’s, not the coaches, and not God’s.
Teddy is described as "an all around incredible young man, son and brother” and tonight, his family needs our love.
Xo,
Parents Everywhere
