By this point, everyone knows what happened Friday December 14th, 2012. And as most if not all of you know, my hometown is New Milford, Connecticut, which is only a short 14 miles from Newtown, Connecticut. A community surrounded by many other communities that are facing an unspeakable tradegy, along with the entire Nation and world.
Being away from my home this past weekend has been the hardest time for me so far. So badly I have wanted to attend the countless vigils and services. I have had to settle hearing about said vigils via facebook and twitter.
All over the news, facebook, and word of mouth, everyone is saying that they are going to hug their children, nieces, nephews, etc. a little tighter these days. That sentiment is great.
I have also been struggling with that this past weekend.
The families that I work with at Family Support Network here in Billings, Montana, don’t have that luxury. Unless they had a visit friday, they have to wait…maybe some until this upcoming Thursday depending on when their visit is. That thought has brought me to tears, along with other thoughts.
For an un-countable number of reasons the children of the families that my co-workers and I work with have been removed from their home. Each and everyday I deal with the emotions of that, seeing good-byes, tears, and hearing “i’ll see you next week.” ‘s. Which often brings me to tears. What I have been struggling with this weekend has me speechless.
Parents of 20 young children have not been able to hug their children a little tighter.
When every other parent in America is, except the other parents, who are not able to see their children every day from now on.
For me Friday was such an emotional roller coaster. On the same day as this tragedy, a couple delivered 20 families worth of presents for FSN’s adopt a family program, so that our families could have the chance to celebrate Christmas together. A couple that wished to stay anonymous, gave such a gift to not only our families but to the workers at FSN who were honored to be able to be there when they arrived.
Later on in the day on Friday, I answered a phone call from a women who had heard about our Adopt-a-Family program and was wondering if we had any other families that needed to be adopted. I had to tell her that all of our families had been adopted, but told her that the adopt-a-family program sustains FSN all year round and gave her a list of things that we could use. She tells me, “I will definitely come on Monday and bring some items. On such a bad news day, I wanted to do something that makes me feel like a part of this world.”
That comment brought me to tears again. I am so glad that I was able to answer her phone call, she did not know that I was from Connecticut, or that my home in CT is only 14 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, or that I have driven by that sweet school on numerous occasions. But the genuine care and sentiment was no coincidence.
It was a bad news day…an emotional, question-filled, anger invoking, immense sadness filled day.
There are no words that I could say that can provide any answers to you, but I am so blessed by those in my life and can’t wait to hug my nieces again, hug my friends and family in Connecticut, California, Texas, Maryland, and Montana again, hug the children that I work with at FSN again.
Wide Open Spaces 