Silence in the Big O...

We all have those moments that are deeply etched in our memories. Whenever you think about them you can see your surroundings, hear the words spoken and even smell the smells that might have been drifting in the air. Unfortunately, these events are most often laced with tragedy. During my freshmen year of college, I was taking my comp final when the school shooting in Paducah, Kentucky happened. The sounds of my mom's voice over the running shower water on September 11 are forever ingrained into me. Today my city of Omaha had such an event.

The difference in all of these is distance. I knew people affected by 9-11 and my heart went out to the students in Kentucky, but overall I remained untouched. Today was different as the incident occurred not more than half a mile from the school where my own children attend. Their very school was affected by the lock down.

I watched on TV as frantic moms went to retrieve their children. Suffered through my husband's jokes about how they would have to haul me to jail. Finally, I thanked my lucky stars that Cloudya and Kaiden were in Kansas City with grandma and that my high school hockey sons were tucked safely in their hometowns. Most of all I was thankful that they didn't have to experience it.

Tonight every place we visited in the Big O seemed to be filled with one common factor...silence. The shock sets in as something so horrible strikes so close to home. But as the amazing type of people we all are we will bond together as a community and rise above this crisis. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims and we pray that their recovery is speedy...our thoughts are with the students and other faculty as they try to deal with the events. We send peace to the family of the suspect, who in the midst of everything are dealing with something I would never want to imagine.

Parents, as you say good night to your children this evening, remind them that you love them. Remind them how amazing they are!