Talk to your daughters, and sons.

I can't believe it has been a week since I blogged. I promise I have been knitting, and frogging and knitting some more.

I have been rather sidetracked. We had a tragedy at a local high school last week. As a former guidance counselor for the school district, I have also served on the grief intervention team. A senior, 3 weeks from graduation, as if that really matters, broke up with her boyfriend. He brought her to school the next morning. As she got out of the van, he began to stab her. He followed her out of the van and continued to stab her as school personnel ran to her aide. He got back in the van and drove off. A parent in the drop-off lane, followed him. She did not have a cell phone with her but would roll her window down and ask by-standers to call the police. The police followed her through these phone calls and he was captured within 1/2 hour due to her efforts.

The young woman died of multiple stab wounds less than 1/2 hour later.

The young man is a schizophrenic with a history of violence. The girl was a honor student with plans for college. Please talk to your loved ones about domestic abuse. If someone ever feels afraid for their safety in a relationship, he/she needs to get out!! It only gets worse. The percentage of teenagers who have experienced violence in a relationship is staggering.


The dust bunnies are taking over the house. I will get to them later in the week. I just could not face them. The emotional exhaustion of the week reminded me of why I left counseling. I spent several days counseling at this school, coming home and hugging my family and then sitting, knitting, crying and praying.

Hug your children but then please talk to them about domestic violence. We must have these conversations, even if they are sometimes difficult or uncomfortable. We owe it to our loved ones. Parents of students at the school talked about what should be done by the district to prevent this from ever happening again. Nothing could have been done on our side. Once she got in the van, he was not going to allow her to leave alive. The only way to prevent this is to have these conversations.