You can't.

Last Wednesday morning, I was checking emails before dragging the kids out of bed for swim practice when I saw I had one in my inbox from the swim coach.  She was on vacation and the email was sent at 1:00 AM.

I quickly opened it, wondering what was wrong.  It was a brief note.  Only two sentences long.  It said there had been a tragic accident at one of the pools we swim against but the County Meet would go on as planned on Saturday.

I Googled it and found that an 11-year-old girl had been electrocuted at the pool in a freak accident.  As I read the article, my heart felt heavy and my eyes filled up with tears.

I told the kids about the accident as they were sitting down for breakfast and once again I began to cry.  My kids looked confused and wondered why I was crying about a girl I didn't even know.

How do you explain to your babies the fear you feel as a mother knowing that it could have just as easily been one of them? How do you explain the sadness you feel for another mother knowing that her one and only child was taken from her, right before her own eyes? How do you explain yet another round of  tears when you read that this poor mother was holding her daughter's limp, lifeless hand and praying over her the whole time the lifeguards were performing CPR?

You can't. 

So you dry your tears, pray for the little girl's family with your kids before they eat their cereal, hug your kids before swim practice, and go on with your life.