Like every other parent in America, I sent my kids off to school yesterday morning with a giant lump in my throat.  The horrific events of Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School were at the forefront of my mind as I hugged each of my twins as tightly as I could.  A small part of me even wished they were sick so they could stay safe at home with me.  However, the other part of me knew that normalcy was about the best thing that could happen in their innocent little nine year old lives.

My husband and I had told my son and daughter over the weekend about what had happened in Connecticut, but we purposely chose to leave out many of the details.  Our main objective was just to let them know that they could come to us with ANY questions or concerns they might have.  Cause God knows what they'd hear from their friends at school or from the media.  Surprisingly, and thankfully, they seemed to be unaffected.

I, on the other hand, have been absolutely sick to my stomach.  This is so not the world I had envisioned for my children.  While I try so very hard to believe that most people are inherently good, I know that there are sick, sick people out there that can and will do harm.  And as much as I'd like to roll my kids in bubble wrap and protect them from all that evil, sadly, I cannot.  I HAVE to trust our teachers and our educators to do the very best they can to keep them out of harm's way.  And I know that they will.

Every fiber of my heart aches for all those Sandy Hook parents who have to take part in the unimaginable task of burying their sweet little babies.  Nobody should EVER have to experience that kind of horror.  And I pray that this latest senseless attack will inspire us as a nation to actually DO something about it.  All this unnecessary violence needs to stop.  Mental health care needs to be seriously examined.  Cause I don't know about you, but I want a MUCH, much better world for my kids.