It was simply a change in our daily routine. My son was almost six months old at the time and my wife usually brought him to daycare each morning. My wife had to go in early one day because one of her patients had gone into labor and she asked me to take care of our child. I placed my infant son in his car seat in the extended section of my large pick up truck and I left the house. My son sat quietly in the back of the vehicle. My mind began to drift to the many problems that I was going through at work. I drove through the sweltering August heat right past his daycare. I went to the drive thru at a local coffee shop for some coffee. I continued to drive all the way across town to my clinic.
I parked in the back of the doctor’s parking lot and gathered my things. With my white coat in one hand and my coffee in the other, I closed the door to my truck and turned towards my workplace. I walked a few steps away from my vehicle as I reviewed in my mind what I had just seen in my peripheral vision. “What did I just see?”, I quickly asked myself. I saw my lab coat, my coffee, the car door, and a quick glimpse of my infant son still sitting in my back seat! I immediately returned to my truck and found him still smiling and cooing to himself. I had come within an instant accidental glance of leaving my newborn infant to die in a hot car. The mere thought of this possibility immediately brought me to tears. With both hands trembling, I took my child out of the car seat and I hugged him.
I will now occasionally hear about parents who will accidentally leave their children in a hot car to die. I listen to people refer to these parents as monsters. I hear people say that the parents should be placed in a hot car and left there to die themselves. I promise you that every single one of these unfortunate parents were absolutely sure that they would never be one of those brainless idiots until they actually were. These terrible news stories instantly take me back to what was almost the very worst day of my entire life. Each time I hear about one of these parents, I simply close my eyes and say a little prayer for them… and remind myself that there, but for the grace of God, go I.
