Broken Heart: Remembering the Children of Sandy Hook Elementary

On Friday afternoon, I was taking a break from work.  We were wrapping up a baking blitz in the kitchen when my husband walked in.  “Did you hear about the school shooting?  20 children killed.”  I said something along the lines of, “Oh, no.”  But, it didn’t sink in, and I carried on with my project.

My husband had come home early from work to take my 4-yeard-old son on an overnight trip to go skiing for the first time.  They left, and I fed my youngest son and put him to bed, which is when I turned on the news.  That’s when I saw the horror of what happened…  a gun-man blasting into an elementary school and shooting our babies, multiple times.  My core was rocked.

I got on Facebook and said a few angry things about gun control.  People supported my rant, and a few people spoke to the contrary.  I started to plan a method of attack for gun control.  I wrote the blog in my head, I researched what petitions one could sign, and I plotted my mission to promote a ban on assault-rifles.  I still will probably share my feelings and action-items for those interested in a future blog post.

But, then I read a piece about the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.  I read about Olivia Engel, a six-year-old who was supposed to make a gingerbread house with her mom on Friday afternoon, but instead was shot multiple times.

I read that six-year-old Jesse Lewis had his favorite hot chocolate with his breakfast before he died.  I read about every child that was murdered in this tragedy.

That’s when it really sank in.  Those children need to be remembered and honored.  The teachers that died protecting the students have a story, too.  And, how can you not be moved to tears by the story of the principal and school psychologist who died trying to take down a man with an assault rifle in an effort to protect innocent children.

It’s about the parents that lost their babies.  It’s about the futures that won’t be realized.  It made me cry.  Real tears of sorrow.    I imagined my son’s name on that list.  And if this happened to my boy, I’d want the whole world to know the beauty of my child that was ripped from the world.  I’d want them to be emotional and be motivated to action.

Please, take a moment and read through this list of names of those that lost their lives on Friday.  I’ll write a blog post about my feeling and how reading their story motivated me later.  But now, NOW, it’s time to remember the children.