Mass Shooting at Conn. School

I sat at my desk at work looking at the pictures of this horrific tragedy on my computer, and openly wept. The poor little angels... 20 little kids, shot by a gunman up close. The principal and five other adults - killed. As a parent and as an educator this is positively the worst crime. To attack little innocents... To take away their futures. To cause so much pain to so many loved ones. As a parent I worry constantly about the safety of my children; about kidnappers and crazies with guns. We leave the house in the morning to work assuming that our children are safe at school and that we'll see them after work. Life is so tenuous and precious. It reminds me to appreciate every day and hug my kids. My kids are my life and my purpose. Without them, there would be no point. My heart goes out to those poor parents who will have to live with this horrible pain for the remainder of their lives. To look at those empty rooms and the un-opened presents under the tree. How many young lives will have to be lost before we can have sensible gun laws. Why a lobby has more power than the will of the people. Why a few gun enthusiasts win the debate about the need to have semi-automatics in this country. I support the 2nd amendment but nowhere does it say that average citizens can have semi-automatic weapons. No hunter needs one. No one needs one. Crazies might always get guns, but without semi-automatic weapons, the death tolls will never be so high. As a society, we must decide what we value. Do we value the safety of our children or the right for someone to have a rifle that fires numerous bullets within a minute. I heard yesterday that we lose 15,000 lives to gun violence each year. Can we not at least limit semi-automatics in the name of communal safety? I'm disgusted and so saddened. We must do something and we need leaders who will take this on.

Nate's Win!

Tonight, Nate played his last game of the season. The boys have been losing all of their recent games by multiple points. Tonight, they all played really well together and Nate scored the winning goal! It was a corner kick and Nate kneed it in. I'm so proud of him. He's become a fine soccer player - always contributing, always making a difference. Goals are rare, and tonight, he made a very important one. The score was 1-0.

Marcus' view of what I do

Marcus' babysitter asked him the other day, "And what does your dad do again?" Without skipping a beat he replied, "He fires people."