Shady Hook Memorial

This week I had full intentions of doing a Birthday Recap… in light of the tragedy in Shady Hook I had decided to postpone that. I am someone who typically deals with situations with humor and distraction but I just can’t bring myself to type any witty or sarcastic jokes in this post. This is a situation that for me hits very close to my home. For 5 years I taught kindergarten…  during my final year of teaching the teacher across the hall took her own life. It has brought back the overwhelming emotions: “What could we have done to stop it?” It brought back the phone call. It brought back the children’s tears. It brought back the feeling of helplessness. How do we make sense of something senseless to children? As adults we have all of the answers: Why is the sky blue? Why is it warm in summer? But why did this happen? Are they safe at school? What will happen to their Christmas presents under the tree? We do not have these answers.

The only answer I do have is prayer and love. It is a reminder that for those of us still here, that life is short and uncertain. Hug those you love. Reach out to those around you because you never know what personal battles they are fighting. Do not dwell on the past but make an effort to not let it repeat itself. Please take time to say more than hello to a co work or neighbor who seems off. Your simple act of kindness could stop a tragedy. Most of all remember...

Teachers are truly amazing people. These teachers were more than amazing… they were heroes. They will be in my prayers. 

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

 Rachel D'Avino, 29

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Victoria Soto, 27

 Mary Sherlach, 56

 Charlotte Bacon, 6

Olivia Engel, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Jesse Lewis, 6

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Josephine Gay, 7

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

James Mattioli, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6.

 If you are like me the first thing I think of is how can I help? I have located several ways to donate through a simple Google search to the memorial funds, funeral funds, or families of the victims here are some locations I have found to do so. There are also many more Facebook pages create to funnel donations. Here are some I found:

Noah's Ark of Hope Fund

Newtown United Way Fund

To send a card to the victims: P.O. Box 3700, Newtown, CT 06470

XOXO, Elle