Currently . . .

It's 8:15 on Tuesday night and this post is supposed to go "live" at 6:00am tomorrow  (Wednesday) morning. In those 10 hours, I've got to pack lunches, fold laundry, put my daughters to bed, and put myself to bed.

I also have to finish this blog post, but, honestly y'all, my heart and mind are somewhere else tonight. 

Normally, I know the prompts for these posts well in advance (I make them up, after all), so I let them rattle around in my mind for a week or so until some inspiration hits and, then, I get the post written a couple days in advance. With the Thanksgiving holiday, though, that didn't happen this time. I thought that, when the kids were back in school on Monday, I would have time to work on this, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball.

I won't give specifics because they aren't mine to give. I will simply say that a student at the school my two youngest daughters attend passed away Monday night as the result of a car accident. The past two days have been full of questions, tears, hugs, sadness, and love. 

My heart is heavy for the student's family and the classmates, my children included, who now must find a way to cope with such an unthinkable loss. 

Needless to say, this post has not been at the top of my priority list, but sometimes, for me, writing helps. I can let myself get lost in the words and it somehow brings a little comfort. So, as the night winds down and my children sleep peacefully (because it's taken me nearly two hours to get this far), I'm falling back on an old blogging standby - the "Currently" post.  

Currently I am . . . . . . .

• Reading All The Light We Cannot See. Yes, I'm a little behind. I actually bought the book a few months ago with intentions of reading it during my many hours waiting in carpool lines, but didn't actually crack it open until a couple days ago.
• Planning for Christmas- shopping, events, food. Also, for Megan's 11th birthday party this weekend. 
• Stressing because I am so far behind on my Christmas shopping. I ordered a couple things on Cyber Monday and that's all I've done so far. I'm usually about half way finished by now. 
• Wishing that life and death were easy; that complicated explanations could be more simple; that children didn't have to die or grieve or hurt; that families were never broken or separated; that "tragedy" was not a word in our vocabulary.
• Feeling sad yet thankful. Thankful for a school community that has come together to support one another; thankful for friends and hugs; thankful that my girls are safe in bed at home tonight.
• Listening to the Pentatonix Christmas Album. It's amazing and music is comforting.

Thinking about going to bed and about how fragile life is; how quickly it can change. I'm also remembering a quote from an article about grief that a friend shared earlier today.

Loving extra cuddles and hugs.

Wearing pajamas - it's now 10:16pm

Hoping that people will remember to think of how their actions affect others. Sometimes, we make decisions without using our good, common sense and the consequences and be devastating. 

This post will certainly not go down in the history books as one of my greatest, but it is what it is - at 10:32 on a cold, rainy night after a very long day. 

As I told my best blogger friends in a Facebook message on Monday night, go hug your babies - even if they are aren't babies anymore. Always tell the people you love that you love them and be generous with your hugs. We never know if "this time" will be the last time. 

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This post was part of the One Word Blog Linkup hosted by, Janine of Confessions of a Mommyaholic and me! This week, the word prompt choices were Always, Simple, and Over. 

An InLinkz Link-up