No words...

In our little bloggy world we seem to hide ourselves on the outside from each other...We must protect ourselves!!! From what?! From the outside dangers?!

My heart is still broken today as I think about the city I live in. Dear old Tracy, California...population over 80,000...and the home of MC hammer...though I have to tell you...I was here first! When I moved here in 1984 the numbers were far smaller...a third of its current size. Our city has changed from the small pit stop of a town it was 20 years ago. In the past 6 months Tracy has been on the nationwide news twice for some of the cruelest crimes imaginable. On a personal level at my children's school a substitute teacher was arrested for inappropriate touching of female students...thank heavens just hair and shoulders of the young ladies and not in my daughters' classes. We have had a teenager chained to a fireplace and literally tortured, a friend of mine was the ambulance that responded and she was sick to her stomach seeing what that boy endured. One of the brave police force in Oakland whose lives were tragically ended so thoughtlessly lived in a neighborhood nearby. And now a young girl, 8 years old, had gone missing over a week ago. She was found last night, discarded in a suitcase as if garbage.

I remember growing up living a dreamlike existence. My brothers and I would ride our bikes through a forested area behind the homes and feel a freedom kids this day aren't allowed. In our days people watched out for other children...not watched other children. I know I am living in a fantasy world wishing my children had the same opportunity as we did.

Anyway, today, whether they like it or not...when they get home from school....I will hold my children tight and tell them I love them.