Joy

 When all that's left is the shell of what once was, where is the joy?  

When all you hear is the clamoring and the bickering, who speaks of joy?  

When everywhere you look there is damage, how can you find joy?  

This is the truth of where we find ourselves.

Surrounded by wreckage. 

...after a December Friday with so much loss.  The wreckage is sacred ground.  

And someday the rebuilding will have to begin.  

Love and joy are the foundation blocks.

My own child asked me, "Will they have Christmas in Connecticut this year?"  

I started to respond with a complicated, adult type of answer.  An answer wrapped up with all of my grown up baggage about motherhood and love, mental illness and being safe at school, holidays and how hard it is to struggle with loss.  

And then I stopped.

Answer the question you have been asked.

"Yes, Love.  They will have Christmas in Connecticut this year."

Love and joy are the foundation blocks.

A father in Newtown was asked, "Can your town recover from this?"

He replied, "We're going to have to.  We have so many children left."