Bouffant Blonde

Today dawned just like any other day. Fog blanketed the area. It's haze lingers. Somehow it is appropriate. The brilliant sun of yesterday is gone and only questions and sorrow linger. Yet we are reminded that life does go on, whether we welcome it or not. We can't turn back the clock. We can't fix what has happened. The bodies remain. The shattered lives linger. Long after the news reporters have moved on to another story, the peace and calm will allude us. Because now we know for sure that horrible things can happen anywhere, at anytime, to anyone. No more heads in the cloud denial. Not for us. Not for our children. Not for our sleepy communities. When the tornado killed nine people just over two years ago, that was horrible and unimaginable. But it was an act of nature. A freak event that destroyed a school that had withstood countless tornadoes and students. But the shooting rampage was a deliberate attack. Planned carnage. How does the mind of a seemingly normal perso...

Life can change in an instant. Our minds know that. Our hearts, however, want to believe that all is right with our world. That bad things happen to other people, in other families, in other towns. That diseases either don't happen or are always cured. That traffic accidents are minor and life goes on after a minor headache or two. Then a neighbor swerves frantically into the driveway with news. A gunman is heading down the highway, shooting everyone. Surely, not. This is rural Alabama where folks shoot deer not people. Law enforcement vehicles speed down the road with lights flashing. First one and then another. Sirens echo in the distance. An ambulance follows a different path, yet just as fast with its lights flashing and sirens sounding. It is not a dream. It isn't happening in a big city. It's real and it's right here. Early reports vary, depending on your preferred news outlet. Nine people are believed dead. Two are children. We don't know how many are hurt. ...