Recounting one family’s experience

LAS VEGAS – I woke up yesterday to hundreds of text messages from friends near and far asking if I was okay. I read the news and

was instantly shocked, stunned, devastated. You never imagine it would happen in your city, your hometown.

I immediately thought of all of my friends and family who could have been there, could have gotten hurt. Some I had not heard from yet. Then I heard my two small children wake up, and as they started getting ready for school, I realized I needed to tell them what had happened. But how do I tell them?

I sat them down, tears in my eyes, and told them something very terrible happened last night in the area they love so much, where all the big hotels are. I told them a horrible man killed a lot of people. I told them that some of their friends at school might know people that were hurt, so they might need extra hugs today. They didn’t really understand. They had so many questions, as did I.

How does one man have the ability to create so much terror? How does one man have so much hatred inside himself that he would go and do something like this?

My daughter asked me later in the morning if we were still going to her Girl Scout party or whether it would be canceled. I told her absolutely, we were still going. We were not canceling and letting evil win – we will be strong and hold together, and in the end, love will prevail.