The past few days have just been heartbreaking. If you haven't heard, a young man forced his way into an elementary school in the U.S. and murdered 20 beautiful young children (all younger than Kerri) and 7 adults. I cannot watch the news or read the stories without bursting into tears.
Then we heard a man wielding a knife stabbed an elderly woman and then 22 children outside an elementary school in China on Friday, before being subdued by security guards.
This could have happened anywhere, to anyone. Even to us. As a parent, I cannot even fathom the pain the families of the victims are feeling. If anything ever happened to Kerri, I would be devastated.
We have not told Kerri what happened. I am protecting her innocence, because there is no reason to scare her.
And this hit a little close to home. Our Nana was attending classes when on the afternoon of Sept. 13, 2006, a young man entered Dawson College in downtown Montreal with three guns and began shooting people. Within minutes, an 18-year-old student was killed, 19 people were wounded and the gunman ended his own life. Nana says she ducked for cover, and witnessed the shooting up close. She has been dealing with the effects of what happened that day ever since. I will never forget the phone call I received that day.
We are heartbroken - for the victims, for the families. And for our Nana, who has to re-live her trauma all over again every time this happens. Too many beautiful, innocent lives have been cut short, and the survivors have forever been altered by the trauma of what happened.
Life with Kerri is hugging a bit tighter these days.