[blparent] We're fine.

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

Hi,  Since a couple of people have asked privately, I wanted to let you all know that my family is okay.  None of us were directly affected by the senseless shootings at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.  However, the terrible event has hit quite close to home this time.  My stepson and his parents and sister have gone to that theater all their lives, and it’s very near to the house where Gerald used to live.  Stephen has a friend whose mother’s coworker is dead, at 24 years old.  My friend Deb has a boss whose friend’s wife is nine months pregnant, and her husband is in critical condition at a local hospital.  I was having panic attacks yesterday because, although I’d heard about shootings before and thought they were tragic, it’s a whole different ball game when you have kids.  You want to hide them in your closet forever to keep them safe, but you can’t, of course.  So I put on my big girl panties and took Sarah to see Ice Age last night.

Jo Elizabeth

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." Maya Angelou