i'm trying hard not to imagine the horror visited on the victims of the latest mass murder in newtown, ct. the details being shared in a continuous loop by cnn and foxnews are too much. such a tragedy.
i can identify, to a degree, with the shock, the empty void of loss thrust upon those families and the people of newtown.

the day was November 11, 1958; a day like so many others.  my sister and i rode the bus home after school.  the day, as i remember it, was sunny and warm.  we walked up the lane, from where the bus stopped to let us off, to the house.  coming in the front door the house was quiet and still.  calling for our mom we walked through the house and out the back door.  still our mom was not to be found.  what we did see was the smoldering remains of one of our dads dog houses. not sure what was going on we stood around staring, not seeing, until a truck drove up close to where we were standing. our cousins dad got out.  one of us asked "what happened?" he replied "that baby burned to death" and with those words the world as we had known it changed forever.  our five year old sisters remains were there in the pyre. the innocent, funny sister we left in the morning was no more. she was not a victim in the sense of those in newtown but our loss, our pain was just as deep.  as with newtown's slain youth, the bright promise of what might have been was gone in that instant.

our hearts ache for those in newtown, most especially for those whose lives were forever altered on friday.  whether by tragic accident, or an event as awful as the one at sandy hook school, there is no making sense of it.  those remaining are left to wonder why and to try to carry on.  with the passing of time the scars left by tragedy fade.  yet on remembering that day 54 years ago the hurt is still there. as it will always be.  

people of newtown, we here at 7420, families across America and around the world are lifting you up in thoughts and prayers.  may god be with you in this time of numbing sorrow.

aio

to say the weather we've been having this fall, heading into winter, is unusual in the extreme may well be an understatement.  yesterday was a typical panhandle day with gusting winds but it was another 70+ degree day.  in fact, the first three days of december were 70 degrees or above.  seventeen or more days in november made that mark.  odd, you say?  global warming at work? or is it that this variation was one seen before man began to keep a record of such things.

besides the warmer than it ough'ta be days, i've noted the wind on my run today, and last thursday and Friday, was doing an imitation of its southern cousin. I commented in a post while we were visiting my sister that the air was so still as to be unnatural.  not unnatural for those parts.  but living in little a-town there is most always one front  moving out as another system moves in. these three days are unusual in that the air was as still as it was on my runs down south.  rare enough to make note of  but more so to enjoy the absence of resistance the wind inflicts on my runs on a regular basis.

i'm fully convinced the wind can blow all four directions at once.  some of my runs are on a square or rectangular route such that i might start out running west, turn north, then south and then east.  i swear on all that's holy there have been days when the wind was in my face every way I turned.

but who am I to question mother nature. if she chooses to deal some calm days to those of us who live where the air on the move is a constant, i should just shut my trap, and enjoy.

is another calm day tomorrow too much to ask?  calm or windy, it's another day above the dirt I shouldn't take for granted.

aio