Gray Day

Today is just a gray day. 

The skies are overcast, and a cold front is expected to blow through sometime this afternoon. 

Matthew was up screaming and crying every 20-45 minutes last night, with periodic spells of vomit. 

And I have been dreading going to school today because of the horrific event that transpired yesterday just a few buildings over.  I knew I had to be at school today, regardless of the sick child and no sleep.  (Thank you, Mom, for caring for very pathetically sick Matthew!) Though some students may need the time away from campus, others equally need to be in their routine. 

Campus today was quiet and somber- very unlike the typical day on campus.  Unsettling to say the least.  The 4 news trucks across from campus were a jarring reminder of why.  The students who were here (about 2/3 of my 1st class did attend today) wanted to talk about what they saw, heard and experienced. 

I am in no way a mental health professional.  I have always told my students that my job is to help them be successful, so I talked up the counseling available on campus, the debrief sessions put on by the administration, opened the class up for discussion, and created a list of our suggestions about campus safety and notifications to pass along to campus administrators.  It was all I could think to do to address the unthinkable, and I hope it is enough.  I typically love my job, but today it was much harder than it has ever been. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be a little less gray.