Country Singer Opens Up About Day Of 3-Year-Old Son's Accidental Drowning: 'Don't Feel Sorry For Us'

Jun 21, 2019 by apost team

When tragedy hits, it can be difficult to remember how to get out of bed, let alone go about daily life. Laughter seems so far out of the question that it’s almost, well, laughable to think about. The grief we feel can be so strong that it makes us forget about hope and faith entirely.

In light of his 3-year-old son’s death, Country star Granger Smith has decided to use his platform to help others who are struggling to find their faith again.

Smith announced the ‘unthinkable’ news on June 6 to his social media followers. 

“We’ve lost our youngest son, River Kelly Smith. Following a tragic accident, and despite doctor’s best efforts, he was unable to be revived.”

The young boy passed away after a tragic drowning accident at the family’s home in Texas.

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The star said that though his family is ‘devastated and heartbroken,’ they are trying their hardest to find light in the darkness.

“We take solace in knowing he is with his Heavenly Father,” he said.

“The joy he brought to our lives cannot be expressed and his light will be forever in our hearts. If there are words to say more, I cannot find them in this moment.”

Though the family was silent on social media in the weeks following the tragedy, they recently published a video to share details on their son’s passing as well as an emotional tribute to River.

“This is not a sad video,” Smith says, “Because when I think of Riv, I want you to smile.”

The video is nearly 30-minutes long and opens with Granger Smith and his wife looking understandably emotional. While they do discuss the details of their son’s death, the focus of the video is on how the family is focusing on their faith in their darkest time.

"In my house, we have united stronger and closer than we’ve ever been," Smith writes in the video's description. "We’ve cried. We’ve smiled. I’ve held my family tight. I’ve found strength from God and used that in the face of adversity so that my wife and children can rely on me,"

Instead of focusing on the tragic loss of their son and all the things they will miss out on, they are choosing to focus on how lucky they were to have him for the amount of time they did.

“I’m not going to play around in my mind that there’s this fictitious timeline of River graduating from college or high school or playing football,” he continued, “because I believe that he was put on this earth for that exact amount of time.”

“In our belief, God gave us River for three years, and that was his mission,” Smith said. “I don’t believe that God takes anyone too soon.”

They also want to use their platform as a way to help others who are struggling with tragedy and loss. And they certainly don’t want people to feel sorry for them.

“We are going to search for every bit of good that we can find in this situation. The worst situation we’ve ever been through, hopefully ever,” Smith said. “We’re going to constantly search for ways that good will come out of this.”

Smith says that his daughter, London, asked him how long River had been alive. It was then that he realized his son’s life lasted about 1000 days.

“What if you were given a gift of one thousand days on this earth, and you could live those days barefoot, red hair flying back on your go-kart, on your tractor, full speed ahead?” Smith said. “If you could do that, with your family around you, with no real cares in the world, that’s a good thousand days. That’s a good way to live.”

Smith said that music will continue to heal him through this tragedy. He plans to take his wife and his children, London and Lincoln Monarch, on tour with him in the coming weeks.

Before the emotional tribute video to their son began playing, the couple left viewers with one last message.

“Live like Riv,” they said as the scene faded into a sweet video montage of their happiest memories with River.

Have you ever struggled with holding onto your faith in light of a tragedy? Let us know in the comments and pass this video along to your friends and family to keep River Kelly Smith's memory alive.