A pause.

We are suffering a sorrow here, so I trust you will forgive my quiet for today. This student was not one of mine, was not even one I'd met, but some of my closest have been on the frontlines all weekend. In a place this small, each loss reaches a long way, and this one was so utterly random as to have shaken us all.

(I will say: if you haven't read Gabrielle Roy or Brigit Pegeen Kelly, I more than recommend them. I am deep into their grievings and their fiercenesses today, feeling my way through what has happened, asking that my own loved ones be kept safe from awful suddennesses, wanting some way to keep everyone safe, knowing that no such thing is allowed.)