Granger Smith opened up about his son’s tragic accidental drowning in a heartbreaking video shared Wednesday to the couple’s Youtube channel.
Smith shared the news of his son’s passing June 6 on Instagram, according to a report published Thursday by Entertainment Tonight. The couple thanked their friends and family for their support and praised their fans for donating more than $100,000 to Dell Children’s Hospital.
The “Backroad Song” singer detailed the circumstances behind River’s death:
“It was actually a night just like this and I was outside playing with London,” Smith recalled. “We were doing gymnastics in the yard and the boys were playing a water gun fight. I remember thinking, I was looking at London, as she was doing gymnastics and I thought… ‘Soak up this moment because it’s not going to last forever.’ Somewhere between 30 seconds and three minutes [later] Amber and I are inside our pool gate doing CPR on our son.”
Smith went on to talk about how the family was coping and handling the loss of their young son. (RELATED: Granger Smith’s 3-Year-Old Son’s Cause Of Death Confirmed)
“We believe that … God gave us River for three years and that was his mission. I don’t believe that God takes anyone too soon,” Smith admitted.
“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 because I believe that he was put on this Earth for that exact amount of time,” the country singer added.
Smith ended the video by encouraging others to live the way River lived life.
“This is not a sad video,” Smith said. “This is something [that] we want to make you smile with. When I think of Riv, I want you to smile. From now on. Live like Riv. Love you guys.”