Heavy Heart

I write this post with a heavy heart. I grew up in Wilton Connecticut, which is located about 35 minutes from Newtown Connecticut where the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place. I have been living in a kind of fog since Friday. There are no words to express the sorrow, grief and empathy I have for the families, teachers, staff and first responders of Sandy Hook. As a mother I can not even imagine the pain those parents are going through. Those beautiful angels all deserved better. I also have spent the last seven years of my life as a paraprofessional in a K-4 elementary school in the area. I have done lockdown drills hundreds of times, you always imagine but never believe it could happen. Those teachers, aids, secretaries, nurses, custodians and all other staff are heroes. Heroes who saved lives like teacher Kaitlin Roig who barricaded her and her class in a tiny bathroom, telling them she loved them insuring that would be the last thing they would hear in the worst case. They were also heroes in death, we are hearing that Dylan Hocking one of the tiny victims was found wrapped in the arms of his aid Anne Marie Murphy. She literally shielded him with her own body losing her life as well. These stories are many of heroes and first responders who risked there lives to protect children. I can say for sure that Newtown, Connecticut and this country have been forever changed. I hope that this opens up a national dialogue about guns, mental illness and a culture of violence. No one thing is to blame, but I can say for sure that this awful act could not have been perpetrated with a baseball bat, fists or knives. I truly hope that gun reform is in our future. As for now we as a nation focus healing and here in Connecticut I am planning on donating bears and school supplies to help Sandy Hook students return to some type of normal in the coming days and weeks and hopefully help heal my own heart a bit. My thoughts and prayers are with them all and their families!

As as we come towards the Holidays next week I know this is so true...God bless them all!