I don't want to forget.

The first post after posting about a tragedy is always the hardest to write. How do you go from the pain of hearing about 29 innocent lives being lost to writing a normal, every day post? How do you write about frivolous holiday joys when there are families who will never get to share with their loved ones?
Instead of a light post, this is a memorial post. Take a moment and pray, reflect, or even simply just read the names of the lives lost last week: In Connecticut:
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47Madeline Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30Mary Sherlach, 56Victoria Soto, 27Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

In Oregon:
Cindy Anne Yuille, 54
Steven Forsythe, 45

And take a moment to remember the lost men who committed these crimes, to wonder about why, and maybe to take a moment to forgive them and their families. Their families are suffering as well, as they have lost a loved one doubled with the cruel reality of being blamed for the events. These men took their reasons for what they did to the grave with them, so nobody will ever know why these tragedies occurred. These families are impacted just as much as the families of the young victims:
Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22
Adam Lanza, 20

(Please note, I do not condone the shootings in any way. I simply feel as though the families of the shooters deserve the same decencies as the families of the victims - it is not their fault. They did not cause the shootings, and they are just as shocked, hurt, and confused as the rest of the nation.)