I’m Hugging My Babies Extra Tight

It has been a pretty emotional weekend. While I typically don’t post too often about current events, this weekend has been particularly tragic here in the US.

Unless you literally live under a rock, you probably have been following the news on the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. According to a news segment I just watched, the number of people injured/killed makes this the worst of its kind ever in this country. There are no words to express how much my heart hurts for the families of the victims of this tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

When things like this happen, it tends to make us all look at our lives and reevaluate. It makes us stop, slow down, and hug our babies and be thankful for what we have because we never know what could happen tomorrow.

The night before the tragedy in Aurora, I was on my iPad reading a series of articles a family friend of ours, Corinne Reilly, wrote last summer about the war in Afghanistan. She is a journalist and has been to the middle east I believe twice now to cover the war.  She recently won a Gerald Ford Journalism Award for this series of articles entitled A Chance in Hell. I sat there reading these articles, and crying. Crying because there I was, being stressed about needing to get packed up for our vacation coming up to Hawaii, while there are people in Afghanistan  stepping on IEDs and having their limbs blown off.

Including children.

Then a friend was telling us how she has family in Syria, and when they called her a few days ago they could hear missiles crashing in the background during the entire call.

Missiles. Crashing.

Yeah….when I am frustrated with my computer because it’s not connecting to the internet, or when I’m getting annoyed with my daughter because she keeps saying the opposite of everything I say, or when I’m looking at my closet thinking about how I “need” some new clothes I need to remember…

These are such #firstworldproblems.

There are no IEDs or missiles here. I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, clothes on my back, and healthy children.I am thankful and blessed to have this life.

However, the tragedy in Aurora also reminded me that even though there are no missiles or IEDs, that even here in the USA terrible, terrible things happen. That we really cannot predict the future. That we really need to slow down and soak up this life because we just don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We need to actually live life and appreciate it. I know I am guilty (as I bet most of you are, too) for getting caught up in the silly, stupid crap and forgetting what is really important.

This weekend we went up to celebrate the birthdays of my friend’s children. Her son was due the day before my daughter, yet he was born four months before her. Yes you read that right. Four months early. Yet this weekend, we celebrated his fourth birthday by watching him play in the lake and build sandcastles and wrap his arm around my daughter for a picture.

And we celebrated the birthday of his baby sister who was born three months early last year. Today he is four and she is one and my friends, that is what is important.

So yes, this weekend was emotional for the whole country. I am holding my babies extra close and working on remembering what is really important.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of those of the Aurora tragedy as well as with all of those soldiers (from all countries) that are in Afghanistan and abroad that are fighting to make the world a better place.Thank you for your service.

I highly recommend reading the series A Chance in Hell by our friend Corinne. It is am amazing piece. Just get a tissue handy.