Yesterday, as I was searching the local paper (Ohio) to find information on my friends, Bill and Jane, I saw a headline about a man pleading guilty for r*ping a 2 month old baby. The name of the man sounded familiar - maybe was that older kid that lived on the corner where my middle school bus stop was? But I thought, "nah... Certainly not HIM, not someone that I had acquaintance with...."
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This morning, as I was searching for more information (thought maybe they'd know something else by now about my friends), I ran across a more detailed article regarding the sentencing of the monster who abused that poor baby. And guess what? I was right yesterday. This monster WAS the kid in my neighborhood. I didn't know him well AT ALL - he was older and we didn't play with him and his friends. But, I do remember him - we all thought he was some sort of special guy - so many friends - he was cool, he was smart.... Turns out he was a pretty respected member of the community - law school, family...
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And he's now a convicted felon and I pray he NEVER gets out of prison for what he did. You can read about it here. I warn you, though, you probably shouldn't read it.
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I've decided to STOP reading the paper. I don't need to read this stuff. I don't need my mind obsessing over such horror.
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I'm going to take my children to the park and then we are going to run a few errands, one to buy sympathy cards for the families of my dear friends. And then I'm going to spend the rest of the day doing wonderful things with my girls and hugging them and watching them in awe as I thank God for the gifts in my life.
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And before I bid you farewell for now, I'd like to say that I appreciate you being part of my joy. I appreciate your friendship, your support, your prayers. And I appreciate YOU. That you take the time to read about what's going on in my life and that you care enough to stay in touch. I haven't been very good lately about reaching out, but I promise that once my kids are done being sick, I will be back to some sort of normal.
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God Bless you.
