Good Grief

Shock waves still reverberate through our small Northwestern city. My Facebook newsfeed is full of stories from parents whose children were at Freeman on Wednesday. Friends of the Sharpe family are grieving for Ben and his wife, because they are really nice people. Most of all, though, everyone is wondering how something like this can happen in our little piece of paradise.

But it has. And our world won't be the same. Things will not be okay for a very long time.

None of the usual platitudes work. Not right now. Maybe never. The Strahan Family certainly won't be. Neither will the Sharpe Family. Their heartache will continue for years. For them, September 13, 2017 is a day that will live in infamy. A day that should be grieved.

This anonymous blog post captures the essence of my heart right now.

"Dearest stranger,

It's funny how if you pretend something hard enough, everyone else pretends it too. Like today, you pretended not to be crying, so I did too.

I wish I'd had encouraging words to say. I wish I'd had the boldness to say them.
I wish I'd told you it gets better.

I especially wish I'd told you that it's okay to cry. It's okay to let the world witness your pain.

soft quiet tears. loud angry tears. wailing tears. gentle tears. happy tears. sad tears. confused tears.

I'm crying too.

know something? it's okay to not be okay.

to your hurting heart i have something to whisper: let's be not okay together.
let's cry together. let's unload and unburden. let's let our tears be water. let's let it help us grow.

let's surrender our pain to Someone who knows it more than we.

Tenderest of love,

your fellow stranger"

Read more from this anonymous blogger here. You'll be glad you did.