i could have easily lost my youngest son in a balcony accident...its rare a day goes by i dont think about that..icould let myself get physically ill if i think too much about it.
I'm sure your story is more dramatic than mine, but about a year and a half ago, I took the family to a condo at the beach. We rented a place on the third floor. There was a patio outside the door and as I was unloading the car, I look over and my son (2.5 at the time) was leaning between the spindles looking down, and it was only then when I noticed that they were ridiculously far apart. Like 18 inches, very easy for a child to fall through. I about had a heart attack and ran and grabbed him. It still makes my stomach turn thinking about that situation, and what could have happened.
The bright side is that "near misses" like this make me very cautious and aware of things moving forward.