And, the Earth Keeps On Turning

It has been a rather rough and emotional past few weeks filled with some rather ugly and sad aspects of life.

It started when Ashley was visiting. On Friday, August 27, we were out early taking Sandy for a morning walk. Along the trail, by the playground, I observed what appeared to be a trail of dripping blood, but clearly that could not be, right? I live in a peaceful, pleasant, safe neighborhood. A family neighborhood where children play in the cul-de-sacs and it isn't the end of the world to accidentally leave your doors unlocked. Where your neighbors call you if you forgot to shut your garage door. So, obviously, it was not blood, but, given the proximity to the playground, rather grape juice. Right?

And, as we got closer to my home, we observed something odd and decided to go take a look. It was a dead dog - someone's pet - and it appeared as if the skin down into the muscle had been cut away from its saddle area. At first, we assumed it was killed by another animal. We aren't rural, but there are coyotes, foxes, and bobcat that live in the green belt that straddles the creek. But, the flesh was cut, not torn. It wasn't killed by an animal. And, it wasn't near a road. If it had been hit, it would have had to walk rather far. And, it wasn't near the area where we saw the blood, but rather over a quarter mile away. And, the skin was neatly cut, not torn.

Obviously, I called animal control. I've attempted to get a hold of them several times because if it is as I think it, those who live in our neighborhood have the right to know. I know they came out, I know they were evasive in answering a neighbor's questions, I know they called in someone else to consult, and I know they were there a long time taking pictures. I'd like to know what happened.

Midweek the next week, we received in email from the school principal informing the parents that some of the students had been approached by an adult man in a car offering them rides home. It wasn't raining. Who does that? Pedophiles. No one else would even think about it even if they just wanted to be nice. You just don't do that. Obviously, the police were reported and we were given an opportunity to discuss safety with our children.

Two days later, we received another email from the principal informing the parents that a seven-year-old in a nearby community had been run over and killed leaving school. By the report, it would appear to have been a faultless accident and the driver is also a victim, but all I could think about was his poor little body. And, the devastation that accident brought to the lives of his family, his teacher, his classroom family, his principal, his school, his parents coworkers, the driver, her family, her coworkers was overwhelming.

And, I sat in church last Sunday and cried.

I cried the entire hour I was there. I did not cry in anger at God; wondering where God was. God was there because God is everywhere, but it brings neither anger nor comfort. It just is.

And, I have no message. I have no positive spin. I have no great lesson to be learned from these three horrid experiences. The verse that kept running through my head as I sat there crying was a verse in one of my favorite children's books, "Morning, Noon, and Night" by Jean Craighead George:

And the earth keeps on turning, on turning, on turning. Good morning, the sun. "Cheer, cheer."

Good things happen, bad things happen, horrible awful things happen like sociopaths killing dogs, and pedophiles trying to molest children, and lives being forever altered by an accident, but the earth keeps on turning.

And, then, I come home and I see that the sunflowers have finally arrived. Most who know me know just how much I love sunflowers. When I found out that we were moving to Kansas, I was apprehensive until I learned that Kansas is The Sunflower State. I love sunflowers. They are sunny and cheerful and beautiful and filled with joy, but I'd trade every single sunflower for the rest of my life to undo those three horrible events of the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I cannot.

The earth keeps on turning. Sociopaths kill dogs and sunflowers return.

So, I will enjoy them and I will see them as a reminder that even when awful, horrible, wretched, inexplicable things happen, the earth keeps on turning, on turning, on turning, Good Morning, the Sun, "cheer cheer."