I have to choose hope.

Today.....today was truly a horrible day.

By now, we all know what happened. We all know about the 20 children who lost their lives at the hands of a gunman in Connecticut.

We don't know the whole story yet, and we probably never will. We know bits and pieces of what happened, but those bits and pieces are disjointed and scrambled and out of order - much like my own thoughts and feelings right now.

I sit here tonight, still in disbelief. I didn't know about it until well after it happened because I was busy living life. I was busy living a normal every day life, while so many innocent children lost theirs...while my children were safe in their own schools, just as oblivious as to what was happening as I was.

How do I as a mother wrap my head around this?

The answer is simple.

I don't.

There is no way for me to comprehend the enormity of what happened today. None. I can not imagine the fear, the terror, the anguish that those families are having to deal with right now. Instead of planning holiday parties and trips to see Santa at the local mall, they are now planning funerals.

How does that happen? Why does that happen?

I could drive myself insane trying to come up with the answers. All I can do at this point is hope.

I can hope that the families who have been affected can somehow come to grips with this.

I can hope that this will never happen to another child, another school, another family.

I can hope that this will never happen to my family.

I can hope.

But because there are no guarantees in life, I can change the things that I can control. I can tell my kids that I love them even more often than I already do. I can hug them tighter, kiss them more, and appreciate having them around even when they are annoying each other and picking fights. I can love the messy rooms and the temper tantrums and the chaotic schedules and the dirty laundry - because it means that I still have my family. 

At the same time, I realize once again that it can all be taken away in an instant. It doesn't have to be a crazed gunman. It can be a fire, or an accident, or an illness, or any number of things. I never know what is going to happen, or when it might happen. 

All I can do is hope - and be thankful for every single day that I get with my family.

The Annual Seasonal Greeting Feud

Here's something else that started from my own personal wall, but I figured that I'd go ahead and share it here as well - with a few minor edits that I didn't think of the first time around.


OK, people – it’s not even December yet, and I’ve already had enough of the bickering between the “Merry Christmas” people and the “Happy Holidays” people. So here’s my take on what I believe is a completely stupid and idiotic argument……

If you know me well, or if you've been following my blog for a while, then you know that I love everyone. If you've just started stalking me, it's something that you'll learn fairly quickly (like NOW). Seriously. I do. If you’re on my friends list or in my life in any way, shape, or form, it’s because I want you to be there. I don’t give a crap what you celebrate or don’t celebrate, or what you believe or don't believe, as long as you are a good person.

So, if I happen to say “Happy Holidays” it’s not because I’m anti-Christian. But at the same time, if I say “Merry Christmas” it doesn’t mean that I am anti-anything-other-than-Christian. “Happy Holidays” can include Advent, Hanukkah, Diwali, the Winter Solstice, Yule, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, my birthday (because we all know that’s a holiday), Martin Luther King Day, the Chinese New Year, and *gasp* EVEN CHRISTMAS!!!!! Isn’t Christmas a “holiday”??? So if someone says “Happy Holidays” doesn’t that INCLUDE Christmas?

(Yes, I realize that there are even more than that, but you get the idea.) *

Get off of your damned high horses and stop fighting about something so stupid. Quit looking for reasons to be offended. It’s a holiday *season*, people. Quit forcing your beliefs or non-beliefs on other people. Your beliefs are yours. My beliefs are mine. I may or may not agree with what you believe, but that doesn't make either one of us a better person than the other, and it doesn't make one of us wrong and one of us right. Being a Christian doesn’t make you better than anyone else, and not being a Christian doesn’t either. 

Just be nice to each other, for crying out loud. It’s not that hard to do once you stop trying to pick fights with each other. I swear some of you people and your petty arguments make my kids look like angels – and we all know that they’re far from that 99% of the time.





*(This is NOT the time to say "oh, but you forgot to mention ________ and _________." I know I didn't list every single holiday. That's not the point, ok? The point is that there are a ton of holidays just in December and January, ok? I don't think I have to list every single one from around the world in order to make my point.)