chardon high school,
the site of todays's shootings,
is near my hometown.
with each facebook status update
and news briefing,
i felt farther away from home
than i have the entire time
i’ve been here,
but i also felt really proud
to be part of such a close-knit community.
i wanted to get in the car
and drive home and hug my son.
and my nieces.
and everyone else i care about.
i wanted to go to one
of the candlelight vigils
and be with my neighbors
in northeast ohio.
i wanted to be with people
who knew what i knew:
that the only reason
someone wouldn’t want
to raise their family
in chardon, ohio
is because the area
gets a lot of snow.
everything from its town square,
picturesque landscape,
tree-lined streets
and quaint front porches
are scenes straight from
norman rockwell paintings.
up until today,
whenever i thought
about chardon high school,
my thoughts always returned
to the memory of my son,
in middle school,
having his longest run ever
on the chardon high school
football field.
and how i stood in the stands
and yelled and clapped
(and probably cried a little too)
as i felt what parents feel
in moments like that:
a swell of love, pride, excitement, emotion.
and i thought about the parents
who rushed to the school
to find their kids
and how horrible that must have felt.
i thought about the lessons
and reminders tragic events offer...
we never know when tragedy
is going to strike our nation,
our communities or our families,
but we always know
that we'll come together
to grieve and heal.
and when that happens,
we’re reminded of how much stronger
we are when we stand together
than when we’re divided.
we’re reminded
that life is fragile and fleeting
and that we should
love our neighbors,
be kind to one another,
and get rid of grudges
and judgements.
life's hard enough
without making it harder
on each other.
we do that sometimes.
but if something were to happen
five minutes from now
to someone we're mad at,
whatever we were upset about
would suddenly seem so small
and ridiculous.
we're reminded to tell our kids
and everyone else
we care about
how much we love them.
because in loss,
we're reminded to hold on tighter
and appreciate deeper
the love we sometimes
take for granted.
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