Godspeed.

This morning we awoke to the first real snowfall this year.  It’s the ‘perfect snow’ – a Winter Wonderland-Marshmallow World kind of snow, that’s perfect for making snowmen.  The kids on our cul de sac are all out in their snowsuits with rosy cheeks and magic carpets.  On another day, it would be the perfect week-before-Christmas setting.

But today, it doesn’t feel much like Christmas to us adults, does it?  As a mom of 3 beautiful young kids, one who is in third grade, Friday’s news has been impossible to digest.  It can’t even be described as a parent’s worst nightmare because, quite frankly, it’s not a place that your mind would ever allow you to go. I wasn’t sure if I would attempt a post here about it, because, well, a blog is all about words, and honestly, there are none. But, avoiding talking about it at all in a forum like this felt disrespectful to those beautiful children and their loved ones.

One of my all-time favorite Dixie Chicks songs, Godspeed (Sweet Dreams), keeps running through my mind, and is the closest I can come to putting thoughts into words.  Perhaps because it so perfectly captures the innocence of childhood.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll all make brown bag lunches and put our children back on the school bus, just like any day.  Only…it won’t be like any other day.  The carefree innocence of waving crazily and blowing kisses to her from the front door as the bus pulls away, is now gone. And, when I shut the front door behind her, my thoughts will be with all the parents in Connecticut who can no longer do the same thing.