Heartbreaking Contrast

This morning on my way home from exercising there was an interesting interview on NPR, the guest a woman who has just published an article saying that the cost of raising a child is $1.7 million and that that is why she and her husband have decided not to have children. 

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t want children should have them.  Heaven knows, parenthood is not a job for the faint of heart, and there are few (or no) guarantees.  At the same time, I could never put a price tag on the happiness my children have brought into my life.

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Just a half hour ago the girls and I went out to the van to run something over to the school.  As I turned on the van we heard the news on the radio: a man armed with two guns shot and killed 26 people, including 18 little kids, at a Connecticut elementary school. 

I am heartbroken.  It was bad enough when someone in Portland killed two adults at a mall earlier this week.  But children?  Why on earth would anyone do that?  I cannot imagine the grief that these parents and neighbors are experiencing today, and I too will be hugging my kids tighter today…