Even my mom doesn’t get it. my mom, who grew up in Montreal, thinks that i live on another planet.
When i tell people that i live in Canada, most assume arctic tundra. they equate Canada with igloos and parkas and cold and the north pole. very few understand that Toronto is metropolitan. we have good theater! and good restaurants! and warm summers. cold winters, yes, but not any colder than Chicago. We speak English. We watch tv. we shop (sure, we use colored money, but we still spend it just the same!). we brought you lululemon. (don’t forget that, americans!)
my mother, it seems, thinks that i live in the third world. or on the moon. last night we are talking and she says to me, in all seriousness
"so, Ali, any chance you guys up there have heard about what’s going on at Virginia Tech?"
excuse me? any chance? you guys up there? up there is the arctic…a’yuh do y’all up there have you some tv’s up there??
i have heard it. i’ve read it. i’ve seen it.
i’ve cried for the mothers. the fathers. the sisters. the brothers. the friends.
but especially for the mothers. because i am one. because i have three babies that i want to protect. that i need to protect. that i want to send off to college so they can grow and live and learn and become the amazing people i know they will be. but how can i?
so, i’ve chosen to stop listening. to stop reading. to stop watching.
i can’t. it sends me into a tailspin of how can i send them to college? how can i send them to high school? how can i send them school now? today? how can i leave them? how can i work?
since this is not an option
i just need to have faith that i’m making the right decisions for my family.
so, i’m taking a break from cnn. i’m hugging my children a little tighter. and i’m hurting inside for all the families who have lost loved ones in this travesty. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine declared today a day of mourning for the 32 people who were killed at Virginia Tech.
i’m taking this as an opportunity to try a little harder to show my family that i love them. because you never know. you just never know.
so, this time, i’ll forgive my mother for her ignorance.
So very, very tragic. And the worst part is we CAN’T protect our children against these random acts…that is what is so scary. After hearing about a dad and another (yes, ANOTHER) neighbourhood mom who passed away in the last few weeks and put the VT tragedy in the mix and I know, if I didn’t before, that life is too short. Live every day and help your children do the same. Love them. Laugh with them. Let most of it go. As you said, Ali, you just never know.
intense anxiety, frustration, unspeakable sadness….
What an amazing post, Ali. I feel all the same things you mention here — intense anxiety, etc. ((hugs to you and to all))
it might make me sad and sick and upset (it does )but it also pisses me off.enough already you sick psychotic twisted unfeeling selfish SELFISH jerks!what posses a person to do that?and how the hell are we supposed to let our children leave our sight and live their own lives when this is the horror we have to worry about?
I’m with you. I can’t watch either. And I, too, hold my children a little closer.
I’m sick about what happened. But here after the Dawson shootings there was SO much in the media, it just kindof dragged you in .. where you knew just too much about the killer, and it consumed us, and made us paranoid for a little while. I too am not reading/watching anything about this .. I just feel for the families and am so so sad for them…