ER Visit

My middle son cut his knee recently. He is almost 6 years and he was very brave. The pediatrician said that it was a pretty bad cut and would need stitches. My wife rushed him to the ER. I was at work at the time. I rushed to the ER from work to meet them there. Thanks to a close friend who worked at the hospital, we were seen right away. It was a deep cut but after all we have been through, it was far from traumatic. It brought back many memories. The doctors felt the Wounded Knee to access if there was any foreign object. Baruch Hashem, it was clean. Any touch to the raw wound was painful. The doctor applied an anesthetic to the site. It was the same anesthetic that was used daily for Nechama Liba in the ICU. Memories flashed in my mind. The anesthetic burned as they applied it to the knee. The knee was totally numb. He couldn't feel any sensation in the wounded area. Neither good nor bad. They applied the stitches. The doctor said" It is amazing how little we do, <nature> does most of the work. It is amazing how the body heals itself". He stitched the skin together and told us that it would take some time to heal. Baruch Hashem, he is doing better. All that is left is a scar.
As a bereaved parent, we go through a similar process, in the beginning the wound is too raw to touch, so we have to numb our senses and emotions. We need to put ourselves together and let time to heal the pain. But a scar will always remain. There is one difference, in a year from now, he will have forgotten the incident and he won't feel the pain if he touches the area that was wounded. Bereaved parents will always feel that same pain when they touch the spot. Time will give us strength to move on but the pain never goes away. However, in time, we will be able to feel other emotions of joy and happiness mixed with the pain. May Hashem give us the strength.