Dear Reader:

When I saw this title passage… it made me pause and contemplate all the trodden and down trodden paths I have been on this past week!

Twice I have tried to get to Mt Pleasant and Daniel Island… one time with ” tardy” semi-success and later a doctor appointment with no success. On both occasions my intended ” path” was blocked by fellow pathfinders … just as frustrated.

On both occasions my heart was in the right place ( showing up for my grandsons grandparent tea) and two days later trying to pick up my brother for an important heart specialist appointment to no avail. So why ( I thought to myself) is the universe throwing curve balls at me?)

And then Saturday… I learned of an incident that scared me so badly… I forgot about the earlier path problems… seemingly trivial compared to a frightening’ What Could Have Happened’ incident involving Walsh and Mollie’s family.

Because of my sheer exhaustion Friday afternoon (finally returning home from another gridlock interstate incident) I rested until the birthday party for my friend at the club pavilion Friday evening.

Saturday I texted Mollie to ask about Rutledge’s football game and how he was playing… she caught me up to date and then asked if I had heard about the Phillip Simmons High School incident-that ended up involving and terrifying the middle and elementary school?

I was clueless ( in retrospect… thank goodness) … Mollie quickly updated me. Apparently two teenagers that attended Phillip Simmons High School brought three guns to school with the intention of shooting at the crowd gathered for the football rally at the end of the school day.

A student overheard and told someone in charge… as the two boys were approached by school security they took off running in the wooded areas in the vicinity.

The elementary and middle school were both notified and told to go into immediate lockdown. The elementary school was just letting out-dismissal time at 2:40… As luck would have it Walsh was in the front of the parent pickup line and both boys jumped in… But before Walsh knew what was happening police cars were swarming in and at 2:46 … all the other children waiting for parents and buses had to return inside for lockdown.

Of course the parents were frantic and wanting to get to their children… chaotic and upsetting… mainly because of lack of communication… rumors gone astray and visions of earlier national terrorist school attacks.

But as lucky as Walsh and the boys were earlier… one of the fleeing teenagers was seen hiding out near the street behind their house and wooded area so SWAT teams were running through their yard and finally captured the youth right in their proximity.

Later frightening stories came to light of Rutledge and Lachlan’s teachers’ ( and all the other staff members’) scenarios… trying to find ways to protect the disturbed and confused children wanting their parents.

We never think it can happen to us-to our children, and grandchildren… until it does. Here I was… last Wednesday worried about being late for Grandparents Day-how trivial that seems in comparison to the reality of what could have been Friday! I am tearing up just typing this… instead of better late than never… in this case better early than never…Thank you Walsh for picking those children up early!!! It spared them a lot of trauma.

While re-reading some passages from Kent Nerburn’s Small Graces a couple of lines calmed me down. He was questioning how much any of us ever truly need-and why we stay fixated on this unquenchable human urge for ” more” -always more!

He concludes: Do we really need much more than than this? To honor the dawn, visit a garden, talk to a friend, contemplate a cloud, cherish a meal, bow our heads before the mystery of the day. Are these not enough?

So until tomorrow…. Father… Thank you for protecting my grandchildren in these incomprehensible times of troubled minds that want to destroy life itself. The world we shape is the world we touch-with our words, our actions, our dreams. Remind us to cherish the young and set ourselves up as role models to teach the sanctity of the precious life You gifted us!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

The Iron Horses got another win and Rutledge, as their quarterback, has a place on the field named for him … if he runs a play in for a touchdown … the speakers blare out” There he goes down Rutledge ” Avenue” -TD!!!😅