Editor’s Note: Mile High Mamas’ longtime blogger Gretchen’s teenagers had a brush with tragedy yesterday–both are students at Standley Lake High School where a student set himself on fire. Do not miss her must-read post.
I set off on this snowy, brittle afternoon to pick up my K-8 kids from school. The roads were smeared with dirty ice and winds shoved the van. It felt precarious, like the whole day, a slick white tightrope between home and my kids, elsewhere. I was glad to get to them, to bring us all under one roof safe again, until tomorrow. I’ve said this before, and the time has come to say it again:
It shouldn’t be an act of courage to send your kids to school.
A song came on the radio. It was John Mayer’s No Such Thing. It’s about high school and not fitting in. It’s about having hopes beyond being Prom King and Queen. It’s about biding time.
I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
top of my lungs.
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above.No Such Thing, John Mayer.
I drove slowly and thought about how my kids—HEY!—just this morning, ran through the halls of their high school and people screamed at the top of their lungs. That there is the real world, folks.
A 16-year-old boy set himself on fire in the cafeteria as the school day started CLICK TO KEEP READING
Author: Amber Johnson
Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.
Amber Johnson
Beautifully written, Gretchen. It deeply saddens me the world our kids are growing up in. 🙁
Michelle Hartmann
During the Platte Canyon High School shooting in 2006, one of my daughters was in the middle school (which is connected to the high school), and my older daughters THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD was on a field trip. If I could repeat the moments of our reunion, what I would have said was, “I am SO sorry that you had to go through this. ” Beyond that, there simply aren’t words, just being there. I grieve with you.