Sad day

You probably heard the news on Friday that there was a school shooting in Marysville, WA.  School shootings always make me feel awful.  This was worse.  It was too close to home.  I have a nephew and niece that attend Marysville Pilchuck High School.  I've been to football games and swim meets there.  It's a nice school in a nice little town.  Also, it was close enough to our old school that although they didn't have school that day, the kids that were there for play practice, my kids' friends, were put in lockdown.

I was at the store on Friday when I got a text from Geri telling me about the shooting and that Kain and Raelyn were OK.  (I am grateful I didn't hear about the shooting before I knew they were OK.)  I started crying right there in Home Depot though.  It was too much.  I walked to my van to compose myself and meanwhile missed two calls on my cell phone, one from Adam and one from Brian, Kain's dad.  I called Adam but didn't get him then called Brian.  I had pulled myself together by then but when Brian told me that Kain was still hiding under his desk, I started crying again.  (Luckily Adam's brothers, who have seen me cry on occasion, are as unruffled by my tears as Adam is.  It must be in their DNA.)

I did not want to picture my nephew hiding under a desk while there was a gunman at his school.  I didn't want to picture any child in that setting.

Even though it is strictly forbidden at their school, my phone lit up with texts from my kids.  Especially Braeden.  He felt terrible.  He hugged me long and hard when he got home.

I've read lots of news stories about the shooting.  I've read theories on why the boy pulled a gun on his friends and cousins and started shooting.  I don't pretend to understand his motives.  I don't pretend to know a solution to prevent something like that in the future, except to keep our kids home at all times under lock and key.

We send our children to school every day and we assume they'll be safe.  We take it for granted that no harm will come their way.   

I am grateful that the tragedy at MPHS was not worse.  I'm grateful Kain and Raelyn were safe.  My heart is also aching though.   I'm sad for those kids and their families whose peaceful lives were terrorized on an otherwise uneventful Friday morning.  I am sad for the students who were injured and for those that died.  I can't stop thinking about their mothers.  I pray for peace and comfort for them.