Friday

It's not so much a TGIF kind of end of the week. I'm not feeling that fist-pumping Friday glee. It's a bit gloomy outside, for one thing.

And I'm distracted. A local teenager went missing yesterday evening; she hasn't been seen since she drove away from home for a long trail run. Her locked car with cell phone inside has been found in a community center parking lot.

I certainly don't want to jump to conclusions. But.

I can accept that senseless things happen, that we live on a dynamic planet where there are earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes that kill thousands of people. It doesn't make these events any less tragic to explain them as organic, but I can accept the lack of control we have over their occurrence.

What I can't accept is that I share this earth with people who would kidnap, torture, and kill other people as they go about their daily lives: out for walks and runs and shopping trips and on their way to school. I can't wrap my brain around that reality, and it saddens and infuriates and frustrates and terrifies me. A seventeen-year-old girl should be able to go for a run, dammit. A seven-year-old should be able to walk to school.

Also in the news, and on my mind: A man was killed early yesterday as he drew a chalk sunflower in the middle of the road in front of his girlfriend's house. He was hit by a school bus. I'm sad for the family and friends of this creative man who died committing a loving act. My heart aches too for the bus driver.

So I'm looking forward to seeing my girls tonight. Husband's going out of town, and we are going to gather up some games and head over to the home of a former student and mother of two young children. Her husband is deployed and she could use a break--a quiet dinner out with friends.

Sounds like a plan, sister.