This was a discussion that I thought was years away.
But yesterday, I decided to talk to my seven-year-old daughter about drugs.
The reason? An image that has been seared into my conciousness: Madison Kiefer's family mourning her at her funeral.
Her father's incredibly touching and honest eulogy. Watching him and the rest of his children escort their Madison's coffin out of the church to her final resting place. I don't know Madison Kiefer's father, but I'll be he's an incredible dad. What happened to his daughter was not his fault. Sometimes in life, all you can do is equip your child with information, and pray that God protects them as they make their way into the world.
So I decided to talk to my seven-year-old about drugs. She wandered into my bathroom as I was getting ready for work on Saturday, like she usually does. She was babbling on about something when I cut her off mid-sentence.
"Ashley," I said. "Mommy read a news story about a young girl who died of drugs. Bad drugs that bad people gave her. If anyone ever offers you a pill or anything else that they say will make you feel good, tell them no, and tell Mommy or Daddy. O.k.?"
"O.k.," she said.
"Never take any drugs from strangers. Never take any drugs from your friends. If they offer you drugs, they're not your friends."
"O.k.," she said.
I guess the conversation was a little more heavy than she bargained for, so she kind of slinked out of the bathroom right about then to do something else.
That's o.k. We'll be having plenty more conversations like this one. Many, many more.
As much as we would all like to, there is no way to bring Madison Kiefer back to this world, back to her family.
But though her death, I for one have become emboldened about talking to my own child about drugs. And I'm sure there are many more parents in our area doing the same thing.
And if there's something I know for sure in this world, it's that the Madison Kiefer story will resonate with someone's child, and save someone's life.
So through the pain of telling her story, the one thing we can take comfort in is knowing that Madison Kiefer's life was not in vain.
