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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

Hey Heroes,

You’d have to be pretty isolated to not know by now that a terrible tragedy has taken place in Connecticut. I personally have been watching the news with a broken heart all day. There just aren’t words. My prayers and heartfelt sympathies go out to all the families who are suffering tonight.

As you talk to your own kids about today’s events, please be age appropriate with them. Tell them just what they need to know, and reassure them that it’s not likely they’ll face this kind of danger personally. When I shared with The Manager and Captain Earthquake (age 10) this afternoon, The Manager in particular got pretty sad and his eyes filled with tears.

The truth is, bad things happen in this world. We can’t shield our children from it completely.

What we can do, though, is love the heck out of ’em. If you’re anything like me, most days are routine. You do what you have to do, living with your family but not always treasuring them. I’ll admit it: my kids often drive me crazy (says the mom who was up scrubbing a fantastically frightening amount of disgusting…something…out of the boys’ bathroom at one o’clock in the morning. Ew.). They got some big hugs today, and this tragedy reminds me again that what’s really important is family. Messy bathrooms will come and go.

Anguish. Horror. Despair. These are only some of the feelings being experienced in Newtown today. None of us can know in advance when a tragedy of this magnitude will strike. Don’t let another moment go by before you let your kids know you love them.

And give ’em a hug for me, wouldja?

Thanks.