no words

"i don't even have the words.  i just keep crying.  so heartbroken."

this is all i could say about what happened in connecticut this past friday.  i feel like the victims deserve more than that, but i just can't find words that could possibly express how much i am hurting for the families of those children who were taken away too soon, and the teachers who sacrificed themselves trying to protect children that weren't biologically "their own".  as i read the names of each person who was killed, i wept...not only for them, but for their families, their friends, their coworkers, and even their pets.  i said a little prayer for the ones they left behind...a prayer for comfort and peace that can only come from our Heavenly Father.

it just does not suffice to simply say "thank you" to the ones who literally threw themselves into harms' way in order to keep those innocent babies out of it, such as victoria soto, without giving a second thought as to what might happen to them, only concerned about protecting the children that God and their parents had entrusted to them.  i hope that we, as a nation, never forget the sweet souls who were lost because of this terrible act of violence and evil. 

they say history repeats itself.  and it seems true.  this kind of thing just becomes more and more common.  i may get verbally stoned for saying this, but truly, the answer is not banning guns.  if you make owning a gun illegal, only criminals will have one.  and then who's going to be able to protect the innocent ones?  i hope that now, more people are aware of how deeply the mental illness of one person can affect so many, and that something can be done to prevent this from happening again.

i apologize if i've rambled a little.  it's hard to really wrap my mind around all of this, and i've struggled getting my thoughts straight.  i just felt like i needed to somehow pay my respects.

RIP...
charlotte bacon, 2-22-06
daniel barden, 9-25-05
rachel davino, 7-17-83
olivia engel, 7-18-06
josephine gay, 12-11-05
ana marquez-greene, 4-4-06
dylan hockley, 3-8-06
dawn hochsprung, 6-25-65
madeleine f. hsu, 7-10-06
catherine v. hubbard, 6-8-06
chase kowalski, 10-31-05
jesse lewis, 6-30-06
james mattioli, 3-22-06
grace mcdonnell, 11-4-05
anne marie murphy, 7-25-60
emilie parker, 5-12-06
jack pinto, 5-6-06
noah pozner, 11-20-06
caroline previdi, 9-7-06
jessica rekos, 5-10-06
avielle richman, 10-17-06
lauren rousseau, 6-?-82
mary sherlach, 2-11-56
victoria soto, 11-4-85
benjamin wheeler, 9-12-06
allison n. wyatt, 7-3-06