I can safely say the last few months have been anything but high. I had an unexpected leak in the shower stall that was causing major flooding below us. "We're just going to tap out a few tiles, find the leak, repair it, replace the tiles and it'll be back to normal in three days." Those few tiles turned into every tile in the shower, every pipe, the tray, the fixtures, many workmen, much mess, dust and three weeks later it was done. I was exhausted. It had monopolized an inordinate amount of time, but I knew I was lucky.
During the bathroom fiasco Hurricane Sandy hit this area. It was impossible to complain about my shower when I looked at the destruction so many people were experiencing. It's been inspiring to see people volunteering time, collecting supplies, raising money and being unselfish. I find it hard to buy things I want now and keep thinking about all the people who don't have what they need let alone what they want. I have a harder time talking with people who don't think about the people who are suffering. I can't imagine.
What's been difficult in the last few months is the lack of time to breathe. It's felt like I've tackled one project after another at work, the shower, and trying to digest the destruction. But nothing prepared me for the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It's taken everything not to sink into complete sadness. It's also taken everything not to hope someone shoots Wayne LaPierre of the NRA.
The sadness and anger is overwhelming. That Friday reminded me of 9/11. People going about their day. Taking their children to school, kissing them goodbye, never thinking it would be for the last time. It's almost impossible thinking about the 26 people who died that day...caring administrators, loving teachers and the innocent children. I can't think about their parents. To think about their pain and their loss is a place I can't go.
But I can do something. And because I'm an eternal optimist, I cannot end this post without offering things you can do to make a difference for others...and in turn for you:
Support the Robin Hood Sandy Relief Effort.
Make snowflakes to hang in the new school that the students from Sandy Hook Elementary will attend.
Carry out 26 Acts of Kindness. Ann Curry invites you to honor the students and teachers who died. What better way.
