Aurora

Ever since I saw Sleeping Beauty as a child I have loved the name Aurora. When I was in high school there was a girl in my gym class named Aurora and every time I saw her I told her she had the prettiest name of anyone I knew. In those days, I was sure I would name my first daughter Aurora. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how Sami got the name Samantha. 

However, today the name Aurora has a different ring to it. I will forever think of the events of last Friday first instead of the beautiful princess I pretended to be as a child when hearing the name, Aurora.  The facts make me so sad. The image in my head of everyday Americans, like me and my family, going to a movie and instead of enjoying the heroics of Batman are faced with as real life bad guy frighten me. Not just a bad guy trying to get rich or steal but a terrorist. I know the investigators have said that this man had no ties to any terrorist organization but he filled the hearts of his victims with terror so to me, he is a terrorist. 

What scares me the most about this man is he is one of "us". He has grown in up here in the good o' USA and has grown up living with the rights and freedoms that this country has to offer. He's educated and intelligent. Why did he feel that this act was a good idea? What was going through his head? What happened to turn his mother's son into the mass murder he is today? Can that happen to one of my kids? I have tears in my eyes as I write this because that idea is a nightmare. What can I do as a parent to give my kids the morals, ethics and tools to become good, hard working and life loving citizens. I'm sure this man's parent's gave them all the love they had to offer so what happened? 

I pray that the victims of Friday's shooting find peace. I know four women where there with their boyfriends and those men gave the ultimate sacrifice and covered those women with their own bodies and died. I Pray that those four women learn to live everyday to the fullest and seek help for the survivor's guilt they may be going through. In fact, I hope all of the survivor's seek help. They all may be feeling that guilt. 

I pray for the the family and friends of the fallen, Alex Sullivan, Micayla Medek, Jessica Ghawi, Petty Officer John Larimer, Rebecca Wingo, Matthew McQuinn, Veronica Moser-Sullivan (6 years old), Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress, Alexander Boik, Alexander Teves, Jonathan Blunk, Gordon Cowden and for the victims who survived. I also pray for Arlene and Robert Holmes, the mother and father of the "accused" gunman. 


To save my faith in humanity, I'm choosing to associate the name of Aurora with strength and bravery in honor of the survives and the fallen heroes instead of sadness.