Jessica.

The husband and I just had a conversation about blogging trends and current affairs. He asked why I hadn't blogged about a recent parenting hot topic. The truth is I usually avoid the topic of the day. It's an active decision on my part. The stubborn part of me doesn't want to be dictated to. I want to blog about what I want to blog about. I also feel that by the time I get around to blogging, every possible angle has been blogged, tweeted and facebooked 1000 times already.

Not today. Today I have to write about the shootings in Colorado. Not because I want to talk about the need for gun control or judge the parents that took young children to the screening but because the only confirmed victim so far is a blogger.
I don't know her personally. I had not read her blog before today but I feel a connection.

Blogging is a community. No matter what you blog about, if you blog, you join a tribe.
Jessica Ghawi was a member of my tribe. A talented one at that. Her story has me covered in goosebumps. Her blogpost about narrowly avoiding a mass shooting in Toronto recently is the stuff of movie scripts. Only it isn't a story, it is her obituary.

So today, I write about Jessica to make sure that the story stays about the victims. It's so easy to get distracted. I think we do need to talk about mental health resources, access to guns and bullets, maybe even violence in entertainment/media. Surely there are some lessons to learn here. Not today though. Today, is for remembering Jessica, and the eleven others who died today. Today is for praying for the scores of others hurt. For understanding the impact on thousands of family and friends. Today is for honoring.

To those who died or were hurt today - I hope we learn something from your stories. I hope you are mourned and honored for you and not the act that all too abruptly ended your lives.