Sadness

So many things... so many thoughts.

Last week there was a gas line explosion near where I live. It was the town where my dad lives. 5 houses were lost, but thankfully no one was home at the time. The fire scorched the interstate and the road had to be repaved. Lilly's school is taking up donations, so I'll be donating what little I can to help out.

 

As all of you should know by now, a terrible tragedy happened last week. I cannot express just how saddened, heartbroken and sickened I am at what happened. Every time I think about it, I burst out in tears. I cannot see how anyone could ever do what that gunman did. 26 lives.... most of them children. I pray for their families every night and they will forever be in my prayers. No one should ever have to experience that. That could have just as easily happened anywhere else. I vow to make sure that my children know what to do in times of emergencies. I had a talk with Lilly last night. She had heard about the shootings, but it didn't really click in her mind. We talked about it for a while, I told her about the heroes that lost their lives while trying to save the kids. I told her about the little girl who was the sole survivor in the classroom because she played dead. Lilly was ok talking about this. I then proceeded to tell her that I am going to make sure that she is prepared no matter what happens. If we are in a car wreck and I get knocked out, if there's a fire at our house, if someone breaks into our house, if someone tried to take her, if a shooter is in her school... I told her we are going to have a plan for it all. I know you can never fully prepare for such things, but I'm going to try my best. After she realized that these things can happen to her, she burst out crying. I reassured her that this was just for her protection. It may never happen, but its good to be prepared. I'm going to teach her to use my phone, we're going to make a fire plan for the house, she's going to learn to use my gun and she's getting her own .22 on her birthday this March. I will teach her about gun safety. She was worried about if our house caught on fire that our pictures would burn. I told her that all of our pictures that we have printed out are all also on a disc and she can go with me next Friday to put them in our safe deposit box at my work. That made her feel a little better. I told her that its her job to be prepared, but its my job to make sure everyone is always safe. My mom told me to get Lilly a fire proof safe so she can put some stuff in there. I think that's a really good idea. She'll be getting one of those soon.

It is a scary thing.... you go through life thinking nothing bad can ever happen to you. I don't want to scare my children, but I want them to live in reality and be prepared for anything. I don't want them going through life thinking everyone is good....because they aren't. I don't want them thinking they are invincible. They are fragile.

 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank every teacher, every day care worker, every person that works with kids that loves and treats them as their own.