I need to let you know this episode involves the death of a child.

There will be discussion about the events surrounding his murder

and the tragic experiences his family endured after his death.

Listener discretion is advised. When you're a parent you have routines.

Sometimes you endeavor to have routines and life gets in the way. But there are certain rituals

you practice with your kids.

Maybe it's the same bedtime story or song night after night,

or the same movie every Friday,

the same lunch on Tuesday or blueberry pancakes every Sunday morning.

Some people might call these habits, but you know it's more than just a habit.

It's a syncopated rhythm you practice with your family, even on days when the world has gone to shit.

There are rituals and these small gestures of repetition tie the bonds of family.

My daughter and I have a ritual when we leave the house together,

something that started when she was very little, I don't remember why or how, it's

just something we've always done. When we leave the house, I ask Freddie and she responds ready George the ready

Freddie I get it's an old rhyme that may have stuck in my head from something in

my own childhood but where George came from, I have no idea. It's just what we do, and

have always done, and will likely continue to do long into our future. Kathy Pollack had a routine with her middle child Eddie.

Anytime she dropped him off somewhere she said,

I love you, please be careful.

To which Eddie always replied,

I love you too, and I always am.

...