I would be remiss to ignore the shooting this week on the children in Minneapolis. We all have so many thoughts and I am sure, most of them we share. In the interest of mental health, political views will never be discussed on this platform.

First and foremost, my hearts go out to all of the victims and their families. Also to everyone on site that will now live with the trauma. The innocence now just evaporated. The wonderful thing about children is that they are oftentimes more resilient than adults. With that, I pray for the mental health of the adults in their lives and that they have the strength to raise these children with something other than hatred in their hearts.

I pray that they all have support systems because healing happens in community. That they have the strength to move step by step, even when the world has moved on to something new (which most have already).

Millennial mommas, I plea with you – take care of your mental health. Our children deserve us to be at our best so that we can handle the tough stuff for them. Trauma comes in all forms and they will likely need us someday. Hopefully never to this scale, but trauma is not a competition.

Hug your babies, even the big ones. They will only ask for us for a few years. After that, we have to just be there, ready. They are going to hate us. They are going to push us away. That is all OK. That is all normal. Keep coming back to them. Keep showing up for them. Be a silent, but strong presence in their lives. The constant that they know will alway be around for them.

Pray that their trauma does not break them. Pray that it only makes them stronger. We cannot take all the hurt away. We cannot block them from all of the evil in the world. We cannot wrap them in a bubble and keep them hidden in a closet. We have to let them live their lives. This is how we let evil know that it did not win. We keep going. Be strong, for them.

If praying is not your thing, then add your own verb. I do not mean to offend. I say pray because that is what I do. I make no judgements. Everyone is welcome here. Hatred and meanness does not belong here. Only love and compassion because, at the end of the day, we are all just doing the best we can.