I’m in absolute shock and feeling extreme sadness for twenty children and six adults that I don’t even know. Shocked and saddened that ONE MOMENT took away the hopes and dreams of so many families. Before Laura and John were born, I would have been in shock and felt sad, but today was wholly different. Today, my heart aches for those families, and yet I’m happy that I got to get Laura off the bus from school like any other normal day. She came running when she saw me and ran right into my arms for a big hug. I held her a little longer and squeezed her a little longer and I tried to hide the tears shining in my eyes. Andy got to pick up John from preschool and give him a hug. The families of those twenty children will never have that opportunity again and it’s so terrible for them. Andy and I got the chance to mess around with the camera last night by our Christmas tree and take some fun pictures. It’s something our family got to do that those families will never do again with their beautiful moms, dads, kids, sisters, and brothers.
Like many others, I found out about the shooting by logging onto a news website. I sat with my mouth open staring at the computer for a couple of minutes. Shock. Shock. Shock. Nothing really registered in my mind except that. After my office holiday brunch, I logged into Facebook and I have to admit that I was completely *disgusted* at the people who were already talking more gun control. Talk about gun control tomorrow. It was literally less than 90 minutes after I first read about the tragedy. Later in the day a sorority sister of mine posted the following (this was posted before they announced the deaths of two more of the children):
“Forget your arguments on gun control, against violent movies, and prayer in schools. Get off your soapboxes and political platforms for a moment and be human… 18 sets of parents will not have their littles waiting for Santa, will not see them graduate, learn to drive, or any other milestone. 18 families lost all their dreams today. 8 other families also had their lives shattered. Don’t insult their memory by making them part of your political agenda, just grieve for them, if you are religious pray for them, if not respect them.”
It was exactly what I was thinking but what I couldn’t put into words. You can talk about your personal soapbox and political platforms tomorrow. For today, let it go. Let every parent in American be relieved to see their kids and adult loved ones come home. All I really cared about today was seeing my husband and my beautiful children at the end of the day. I wanted to hug them all and just be with them. I will not forget today and I will remember these pictures, because *I* was lucky enough to have this opportunity.
