Granger Smith reveals final moment he shared with son River before his tragic drowning: 'Soak up this moment because it's not going to last forever'
Granger Smith is finally speaking up about the final special moment he shared with his 3-year-old son River Kelly before the little boy’s tragic drowning death earlier this month. After taking some time to process the little one's sudden death, Smith and his wife Amber shared a YouTube video with updates on how they are doing and what led to the fatal incident.
The 39-year-old musician explained that on the particular day, he was outside doing gymnastics with his 7-year-old daughter London as his sons River and Lincoln Monarch were playing water gun fight. In that very moment, Smith said he thought to himself, “Soak up this moment because it’s not going to last.”
And tragically, within “30 seconds to 3 minutes,” Smith and Amber found themselves “inside of our pool gate doing CPR on our son.” River was immediately rushed to the hospital but doctors were not able to revive him and he died two days later.
As the couple continues to come to terms with River’s sudden death, they are doing their best to find the “good” in the situation.
Smith explained he believes “God gave River to us for three years and that was his mission.” He said, "I don’t think God takes anyone too soon. I believe he was put on this earth for that exact amount of time." The singer went on to share that his daughter asked “How long did River live?” to which he replied with “Just over a thousand days.”
That’s when Smith said he thought: “What if you were given a gift to live 1000 days? If you could live those days barefoot, red hair flying back on your tractor full speed ahead, if you could do that with your family around you, with no real care in the world — that’s a good way to live."
“He lived a good 1000 days,” Smith continued. “That’s a huge example for me and how we’re going to look at every single day.” At this time, the couple explained they are “committed to each other and our kids.” “We are stronger than ever. We’ve gotten so close,” Smith said.
“We are going to constantly search for the meaning [behind the accident], not the reason, not going to get caught up in the reason because we will never know, but we will find the good.” He added, “Don’t feel sorry for us. We feel very blessed. We had an incredible boy for three years and we feel good about that.”
Smith also shared that he will be going back on tour as music has always been his “healing.” The emotional clip concluded with a sweet compilation of photos and videos of River’s vibrant personality which were shown at his recent funeral.
“When you think of River we want you to smile,” the couple said. “Live like Riv.”