Dalton

He ran every where, played hard and had a ton of fun no matter what he did. Dalton was only 7 years old but had done a lifetime of adventures already.

I met Dalton when he was only 4 years old. An only child, he was gifted and very smart but I still felt like he was still so little to be going off the school. He started in playschool but soon moved on the kindergarten and started grade 1 when he should have just been going into kindergarten. He was so ready for life and he lived it fully.

One day he came on the bus with Carhart snow pants, jacket and his floppy ear winter hat and I was positive he was dressed like a teddy bear just waiting to be hugged. He made goofy faces, giggled, and laughed all the time.

Dalton loved hockey so he was definitely a boy after my own heart. Last year he would invite me to his hockey games every weekend but with most of his games starting at 8:30 am on Saturday mornings I declined. About 2 weeks ago he invited me to one of his games that was on Friday at 7 pm. I am so glad I took the time to go. He skated so hard every shift and tried his best.

The last Friday I dropped Dalton off at his house, he came running from the back of the bus, leaped off the top step and landed with a roll on the ground. He jumped up and ran full speed toward his house. He made me smile.

While GTing behind a horse drawn sleigh that made a sharp turn sending him flying toward trees, Dalton hit his head and never regained consciousness and passed away Sunday night. I had to drive by his place Monday morning just hoping that what I heard wasn't true, just hoping he would be waiting out there for me. He wasn't and when the principal wanted all the children on my bus to stay together so she could talk to them, I knew it was true.

I don't have any answers. All the whys and what ifs run rampant through my mind. Maybe our small community needed a reminder of what is most important in life and especially at this time of year. God only knows the answer to the why but I know I will be very thankful this Christmas for more time to spend with my family.