Broken

My heart aches right now over the loss of a seven-year old girl in our school district whom I've never met before. It aches for my friends who have children in the same school, as I'm sure each day will bring more questions than answers. I can't imagine trying to explain to my own children the how or the why of something so tragic and yet they will have to endure this countless times over the coming days and weeks.

My heart breaks for the teacher who will have to stare at an empty chair in her classroom for the rest of the year and can only imagine what could have been. I grieve for the little girl's fellow classmates who are too young to comprehend the finality of death and will undoubtedly keep asking when she will return.

I am sad for my favorite school nurse who has mothered my own children in the past when they were sick like they were her own. I can only imagine the sick feeling she has inside as she contemplates what else she could have done last Thursday when she sent the child home sick. To which we all would reply "nothing".

But most of all my heart aches for her parents whom I can only imagine feel broken right now. For the love of a child is the most powerful kind of love you will ever experience. It is unconditional, everlasting and pure. Once you have it you can't imagine your life without it.