You’ve heard it – “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” So I’ve been silent. Not knowing what to post or where to focus my energy –  I’ve said nothing at all. While several people have been confrontational, my normally “passionate” personality has left me silent. I’m torn between sharing my beliefs and not knowing how to do that and still be a nice human.

If you don’t know me well, you might not be fully aware of my personality. I’ve been called passionate, stubborn, aloof, opinionated… I could go on, but you get the idea. Once you’ve been stereotyped, it’s hard to break out of it, and it becomes kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m not known for keeping my mouth shut. If you want my opinion, I’ll likely give it. But sometimes that is in direct conflict with my anxiety related to confrontation. That’s where I’ve been lately, just trying to be a nice human. One nice thing about moving is that you get to start over. People don’t have opinions about you yet. There isn’t baggage that follows you around. That part is pretty cool. But I’ve struggled with what to talk to my kids about & how to approach things lately. I also want them to be nice humans, so I don’t want to give them a bad example.

Then tragedy struck, and two teens died in a car crash last night. And again, I’m left with nothing to say, but this time for a different reason. Nothing at all… there is nothing that could comfort the families of these two kids. Both good kids with promising futures, taken too soon. It’s hard to find “everything happens for a reason” in something like this. I don’t understand the reasoning behind it. Why don’t these kids get to grow up, get married, have kids and grandkids etc? Why do their parents have to plan unexpected funerals? The list could go on… so many “why’s” with no answers.

It makes me want to hug my kids closer, worry less about the bad things and focus on the good. I pray that the families and friends of those who died last night will help to comfort each other. I pray they will rally around and support the girl who survived the crash. I pray that they all feel the love around them. I wish them enough strength to get out of bed & enough faith to help them through such a difficult time.

Peace be with you on your journey of enough, and may you comfort someone along their journey.