Please sit down. And if you’d be so kind, grab your friends joining you tomorrow at some gun lobby fete and encourage them to do the same. Just.sit.down.
My granddaughters got home from school yesterday. They hugged their parents, perhaps ran outside to play or grabbed a snack or just engaged in 6 and 7 year old silliness that increases exponentially as the end of the school year approaches. They fuel the air I breathe, their day-to-days inform my narrative as their Gigi.
There are families experiencing a pain that is unfathomably deep and permanent. Forever reconfigured, forever defined by one who is missing. And if you haven’t had enough of this horror, this talent that we have in the United States to be the best at killing each other for no damn reason, then perhaps you shouldn’t read this.
I am not against the Second Amendment, but when I heard the Senator start talking about the radical Democrats who want to limit the rights it accords and arguing for more security measures at elementary schools, I bowed my head and sobbed. This is the best you’ve got? How about acknowledging that if you’re the literal constitutionalist that you pride yourself to be, you recall that when written, the Second Amendment was talking about muskets. A minute to load, one shot, reload. No AR-15s, long rifles, armaments designed for war available to anyone.
I don’t want to bow my head in moments of silence, whisper prayers of healing for broken hearts, shake my head in disbelief that we can’t even get a damn reference check bill passed, despite over 80% of the population supporting it. I don’t understand why we feel it is enough to extend sympathies and not do anything past the flippant.
My little girls will burst into their homes this afternoon. They’ll have news and wonder and giggles and fits and hugs and breathlessness. Their parents will hold them and tickle them with kisses and at night, cuddle them and smell that delicious-after-bath-smell that only little ones have. And they’ll whisper ‘I love you’ as they turn out the light.
To thank G-d for allowing your child to arrive safely at home from school each day, is unimaginable to me – and yet, here I am, overwhelmed with sorrow and an almost superstitious need to repeat ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’.
Waiting for the Karma Truck 
Thank you for writing what so, so many of us felt when we heard the Senator spew his ridiculous and hateful words. He, and his cronies, are what continues to make America the country the entire world looks at and shakes their collective heads in disbelief.
Just.sit.down…LISTEN!!!
Hugs to you. Mim
I truly thought I would lose my shit (pardon the vernacular) when I heard him speak…Sending you hugs too Joanie..
Yes. Full stop! Moved.
Thanks, Dave
Oh sweet friend, you give voice to what bounces around in so many heads. I am full to the brim with ‘hopes and prayers’ — cannot take one more utterance of that meaningless pap from legislators who in the very next breath begin scurrying to cover their butts and curry more favor from the gun lobbies. I despair that we will ever learn, and yet if one doesn’t continue to nurture some hope, what is there?…. Hug those sweet babies for me, too. xoxox
It overwhelms me – the disbelief, the pain, the disillusionment…and yet, still I hope…and will happily kiss those love bugs for you…xoxo
So wonderfully written and true. Thank you Mimi.
Thank you for stopping by Richard – sending love to you, Liz and the girls
I often wonder what their response would be if it were their babies in the line of senseless fire.
Good question
One of your best posts yet. I say that every time, don’t I? You put into words the chaos that I feel, the wrongs and atrocities that surround the complacency and power hungry politicians. As someone who spent her days walking the halls with children, this cuts to the core; our reality so disheartening and just plain sad. Hug those beautiful girls for me. What a thing to worry about as children are sent to school daily by parents who want to believe they’ll be safe, for teachers with kids of their own who, in the blink of an eye would take a bullet to keep their promise to parents to provide a safe nurturing environment for them.
Love you mimijk. Wish I could hug you.
Jo
You just did – and I hugged you right back…Thank you Jo – it’s all so senseless and unnecessary and driven by a lobbying organization that is motivated by money far more than the will of the majority of the people in this country…Teachers are heroes for educating our young – they shouldn’t be heroes because they die protesting their students.
Oh mimi, as always poignantly on the nose… I, too , wonder what they would do if it were their kids or grandkids that met with this horror.
Congress…stop the contemptuous rhetoric and get off your lame asses and do something that will effect change for all of us
Amen, Sue – amen…
Send this to the newspaper as an Op-Ed. Prayers don’t change the minds of greedy politicians, nor do prayers stop the use of assault rifles that should be reserved only for the military. Ted Cruz received $300,000 from gun lobbyists for his latest 2018 campaign. Public ostracism is in order. And unquestionably, it’s time for some more humanistic, sane politicians.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Jan – and would that the Charlotte Observer paid attention to op-eds. They barely have an editorial board…
Then email it to the NY Times, Washington Post, and anywhere that will publish this. It’s good. And someone will see that value and want to share it. xox
Oh dear Mimi…..you so eloquently put into words what is reverberating in so many hearts. Thank you for putting a voice to such sorrow…..💔
I’m so touched that you read it – thank you!! And as you know, the depth of sorrow is something we share indeed…
They can take their thoughts and prayers and …. Yes. just.sit.down. Listen and now, instead of spewing your nonsense, find a viable solution. We’ve made some serious inroads here in Canada (still much to do, but compared to you? Worlds apart!) Stop speaking and saying nothing. Start doing. Now.
Beautifully done, Mimi.
Thank you Dale – our youngest lives in Toronto and we talk about the distinctions between our ‘nice’ neighbors to the North…we have a very very long way to go…
Mimi as always well written and right to the point. What to do what to do. The people that support what is happening are continually being reelected to the office they now hold. We the people of this country have a choice every two years to make the necessary changes that can provide laws that over 80% of our population are looking for. Rather than mourn do what is necessary to make change. Whether we like it or not the citizens do it. Pop Sid
Hi Pop – thank you so much for commenting!! You’re right of course – rather than responding to polls (which is easy) which politicians don’t care about anyway, we need to vote and and demand better from those we elect – or enthusiastically show them to the door of the Capitol. I appreciate your perspective, as always….love, m
Mimi – Thank you for writing what we’re all thinking today, and for expressing it so eloquently and forcefully. xo, Lisa
Hi Lisa…thanks for reading and sending your thoughts along…yet again, we are thinking similarly and aching together…xo, m
I am so with you and all the other women feeling such pain right now. We must protect and empower these fledglings. They are the future of the planet. 💕🙏💕
Thank you Val…protect and empower -precisely!!! Hugs, mimi
What does it take for change to happen in the US? Our hearts break each time we hear this story Mim. Sending love and peace to all the families involved
😞💔
I wish I knew…what I do know is that we can’t be silent…😔
Yes I agree. 🙏🏻
Mims, perfect, perfect, perfect. Thank you for giving voice to what is in our hearts, our minds and our rage.
Miss you BonBon and hope all is well…sending much love 💕