Always Remember...

So, today is Valentine's Day. To many, February 14th represents a cliche Hallmark created holiday that causes single ladies to band together, frantic men scurrying off to the nearest Jewel or Dominick's, and the very rare couple that spends the day as an extra reason to show appreciation to each other. I feel lucky to say that I was in the last category and I spent my 1st married Valentine's Day celebrating with my husband and our friends.

Unfortunately, Februray 14th also strikes a large black mark through it's spot on the calendar. It is the 2 year anniversary of the tragic shooting that took six lives at Northern Illinois University. My alma mater. The events that took place that day are horrifying and it strikes a fear in what is familiar. NIU is where I spent the best four years of my life, I met my best friends, and I grew up. Cole Hall was the large lecture auditorium where it was easier to catch a nap or gossip about the weekend rather than pay attention to your professor, and now it will forever be known as a place of terror.

To me, this is heartbreaking. A friend of mine on Facebook said it best when she said, "Our connection to the school and each other really means something to each of us, and it doesn't falter with tragedy or time." The emotion that it conjurs up in each of us as we solmenly change our pictures to the faithful Husky adorned with a black ribbon to remember is an act of unification. Each of us spent our days at NIU differently, but we still all hold a certain affection for our school; particularly on this day when we remember those that were lost.

I was not an undergraduate student at Northern when the shooting occurred. But I was back on campus twice a week for a graduate English class on days that sandwiched that fateful day. When I came to campus when it re-opened it was as though a silence had fallen over our town. There were counselors, and tears, and memorials. In fact, I've still kept the Northern Star, NIU's newspaper, which offered textual support and reassurance that the Huskies could rise above. It solidified my feelings of loyalty and pride in my college and I didn't feel like a stranger in the sea of devestated strangers, everyone was one.

Violence against one another has become an epidemic and it is sickening to me. You feel sad when you hear about it hear about its spread throughout the country, but the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming when it hits so close to home. So today, I reserve a special place in my heart for my school and those who's lives were lost. I also feel appreciative of what life represents and that I am given me another day to kiss my husband goodnight and feel thankful that I have him.