Hold On To Each Other

I met a friend for coffee this morning.  We caught up on how each other are doing, shared stories and talked about raising kids.  She babysits for a family that uses parenting methods that I don't know much about and so it's always interesting to learn more.  Before we knew it, an hour had gone by and I needed to move my car so I wouldn't get a ticket.  I moved to another spot and then we walked around the neighborhood a bit.  There is this street art covering the side of a building that I've seen before when driving on Sunset Blvd but never have been able to take a picture because, well, I was driving.  Since we were walking, I took a moment and snapped a shot.  The quote says,

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.

I don't know if Audrey Hepburn said this and that's why it's the quote next to a depiction of her or if the artist just liked the saying.  But I just thought the entire thing is "pretty" so I couldn't resist.

When I got home, my phone alerted me that I had a text.  It was from my sister and it said, "Love you, sister. In disbelief of the horrifying news right now."  I thought, "What horrifying news?"  And then I wondered if it had anything to do with the headline I saw before I left the house about a shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut.  At the time all that was being reported was that there was a shooting and that the gunman was dead.  And in my optimistic heart, since no other deaths were reported, I thought perhaps there were people injured but he was the only one that died.

We all know now that wasn't the case.

I pulled up Yahoo news and started bawling.  I can't even type this without weeping.  The thought of those children, the thought of their families, the thought of those who survived and had their innocence ripped away from them...it's all too much for me to handle.  I can't understand it.  I don't know if an act like this - or the one in Oregon or Aurora or Columbine or Virginia Tech...the list goes on - I don't know if we can ever fully comprehend what would drive a person to take innocent lives like this.  The tragedy today is especially gut-wrenching because of all of the children killed.  But young or old, you should be able to go to school and feel safe.  You should be able to go to a movie theatre or a shopping mall and not worry if a crazed gunman is going to open fire.

I don't know much about gun laws or the Second Amendment.  I'm woefully ignorant on the facts.  But that is going to change.  I have to know more because I know that this can't keep happening and continue to be brushed aside.  We can't, as a nation, as a community, as a society, continue to say that "crazy people will find a way to kill and taking away guns won't change that."  Because I don't believe it.  The magnitude of these tragedies will only increase and become more unbearable unless action is taken.  And I can't continue to just theorize on it.

Today we have a doctor's appointment.  We'll listen to our son's heartbeat.  And I'll be thinking of the parents in Newtown who wish they could hear their children's heartbeats just one more time.

The best thing in life to hold onto is each other.

Hold the ones you love close tonight.