| Dear C.J.’s Mom,Tomorrow 20 children will not wake up and have a choice as to what shoes to put on. If there was ever a day in history where people who love and advocate for children should come together and shout from the tops of mountains to “let kids be kids” it would be today.
If there was ever a day to step back and look with wonder at our children for the joyfully imaginative way they approach their lives it would be today. If there was ever a day to stop and say we only have today, what a gift I have in my son or daughter, I will not let anyone or anything stand in the way of what makes them happy it would be today. I don’t mean to co-op one tragedy to pontificate about another. I only mean to suggest that life is fragile, unpredictable and beautiful. To wring hands and gnash teeth over pink zebra striped flats is such a waste. Such a terrible, painful waste. Tomorrow morning 20 moms and dads will wake up with out little feet to put in shoes. I don’t know what to be more broken about…the senseless deaths of 20 beautiful children or scandalous flats on a beautiful little boy! God bless you and your family! Auntie Mip This was a comment I received in response to my last blog post and the Newton school shootings. I was planning on writing similar thoughts to post, but I feel like this Raising My Rainbow commenter said it better than I would have. C.J. is in kindergarten and I can’t stop picturing him and his classmates when I think about the tragedy that happened in Newton. Some people spend so much time and negative energy judging him and us because he likes to play with “girl toys,” wear “girl clothes” and be treated like a girl. But, you know what? He is here, he is happy and he is healthy. The parents of the 20 children (and the adults) killed yesterday can not say the same. People would rather trade parenting places me over the parents of the Newton school shooting victims without thought. It should puts things into perspective for people. I hope it does. As I put him to bed last night I whispered into C.J.’s ear, as I do every night, “I love you no matter what.” I hugged him a little longer and thanked the universe that he was still breathing in his room…in his Disney Princess nightgown, cradling his Barbie.
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If There Were Ever A Day To “Let Kids Be Kids” It Would Be Today
This entry was posted in All Posts and tagged Barbie, Disney Princess, gender nonconforming, Kindergarten, Newton, Newton School Shootings, parenting. Bookmark the permalink.
Raising My Rainbow 
Love! Tears and yes I so agree with you as always….
“I hugged him a little longer and thanked the universe that he was still breathing in his room…”
Seriously. The ONLY thing that is important here, or anywhere. Not what the child wears, or prefers, or looks like, who they grow up to be, or love…just this…
“I hugged him a little longer and thanked the universe that he was still breathing in his room…”
There are families around the world who, at this point, could give a flying fig tree about what their child slept with, identified with, wanted to be….just as long as that child was alive and sleeping safely in their bed….but it’s not going to happen because that child is dead.
I can only imagine the depth of the pain.
CJ’s Mom, you done good. Keep up the good fight.
Thank you for acknowledging this. This tragedy occurred in my backyard, almost literally, and in a school I used to work in. I have an almost-six, gender creative baby of my own. I feel less alone with the outpouring of support for our community from around the world.
I posted your letter from Auntie Mip on our facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/HandsomeinPink. Thanks so much for sharing! As a clothing line business supporting children in being themselves, It felt like exactly what I wanted to say but hadn’t found the words to say yet.
Jo Hadley-
What is the name of your clothing line,
Reblogged this on Consider the Tea Cosy and commented:
❤
Reblogged this on Kerry Dwyer.
I love your blog. Here’s an article you might want to read: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/15/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother. It’s powerful.
Love!
Amen. I am pretty sure Little Man and Duckie think I’m losing it, as I have been hugging them more than usual. Every night I tell them that I love them more than anything. Always and forever, no matter what. Those words seem even more important now than ever.
Let us all hug our babies and loved ones a little more tightly and be less quick to judge others.
My heart is broken.
Tonight, after getting home, stopping by my dad’s house, all three of my dearest angels {VK (The First Monkee), MD (The Second Monkee) and The Littlest-Monkee-of-all} were there. I sat down in a chair and rarely sit in and held out my arms to The Littlest Monkee-of-all and she walk right on over and hugged me. I held her closely and dearly. Then came VK, who was a bit confuses and not knowing why, but knowing that her Grampa needed to be hugged, hugged me and let me kiss her forehead. Then the dearest little boy to my heart came over. I hugged him for his tender loving heart. The sweetness that he holds to defend his elder and young sisters. I kissed his head and began to cry. My other two Monkees came back and hugged me.. And their G’Ma-cene told them PapaV just needs you to know that he loves you. I gave them each a kiss and came home.
And I sit here crying as I post this . . . Dear GOD, let the love grow.
It certainly puts things into a different perspective doesn’t it? I don’t have kids, but I do have a soft spot for them and it makes me think about my little nephew a little more, who just started kindergarten, and how silly it seems that adults freak out about whether or not their son wants to wear the pink chucks he saw in the store to school. Not waking up to your child the next morning, I cannot think of anything more tragic and heartbreaking.
I am really hoping this opens parents minds up to their children a little more. Who cares what they wear, who cares how they act. They are alive and should be cherished for themselves.
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Sometimes we need to be just thankful for being alive and having our families. What you say is very true and especially with christmas coming up it makes me realize that the only thing that can make you happy forever is having family and being with the ones you love. My dads police station usually donates gifts to a child or family but this year the little boy they were going to buy for didn’t want money or gifts. He is very sick and in the hospital with cancer and he is very interested on police work and all he wanted for christmas was for the police to each write him letter and his wish that he would get them in time to read as the doctors his family and him know he doesn’t have much longer. Sometimes the most simplest things can mean the most and these are the types of things that can make a child happy like you say!
Yes, exactly. Life is too sort and too precious for prejudice.Love your blog!
So beautifully said, as always.
Tears again, C.J.’s mom! And yes, you are so right! Give C.J. and C.J.’s brother huge hugs from all of us!
Gah! Tear-jerker! And I don’t even have kids (yet?). Love your blog!
I’m from Argentina, and when I saw the news I thought about CJ too… You mentioned many times that he goes to Kindergarten and when I saw that it had happened at a kindergarten class in USA, I thought about your family… It’s just terrible, god bless those children’s souls and I hope their parents can find peace someday… This is a tragedy that should teach us, among other things, that we should appreciate our love ones no matter what, we don’t know what will happen the next day, and we shouldn’t waste time hating each other…
As a teacher and the mother of a kindergartner, this one hit with me with a double gut punch. There’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said, but thank you for sharing this comment. It’s so very apt.