Summary: <br> I enjoy the sounds of morning. Yesterday, as I sat on my back porch sipping coffee, I could hear the patt-pattering of a woodpecker in the Cottonwood tree. Three squirrels were scampering along the back fence, chasing each other with furtive jumps from fence to tree limbs. A cardinal sang out his morning song with sharp trills. My neighbor’s magnolia tree was bearing large white pedals across glassy green leaves. Spring is here, and I am reminded of new mercies we receive every morning.<br> <br> <br> <br> Those small comforts feel good at the end of a difficult month. I attended two funerals in the past week – both for friends who lost family members who were very young. As I’ve watched community members gathering together to comfort one another and remember the precious lives of friends they have lost, I am reminded of my own humanity.<br> <br> <br> <br> At one of the funerals I attended, a family member reminded everyone to take the word ‘later’ out of their vocabulary. It was a good reminder. Who is that person you’ve been meaning to call? What is that place you’ve always wanted to visit? What is a goal you’ve delayed pursuing? Just do it. Don’t wait it later.<br> <br> <br> <br> Of course, I have also heard the news from Uvalde, Texas. One of my friends, Dr. Jeff Springer, who has been a guest on this podcast several times, talked to me over the weekend. Jeff had the privilege of providing professional development to teachers and administrators in Uvalde this past school year. Like so many others close to the situation, his grief carries with it so many good memories of the good people there.<br> <br> <br> <br> Last week one of my former students called on the day of the shootings. We’ve known each other since 1993, my very first year of teaching. She keeps in touch and listens to my podcast. She wanted to know if I have ever talked about school shootings on my show.<br> <br> <br> <br> The next morning, my oldest daughter, a recent college graduate called me at work. She was in tears. “They were just babies,” she kept saying over and over again.<br> <br> <br> <br> The next day I was on a Zoom call with education leaders from across the country when a veteran leader from Iowa explained how he had sat in his living room the night before and wept at the losses at Robb Elementary School.<br> <br> <br> <br> I’m guessing many of you listening to me talk right now have done the same. Maybe you’ve wept over last week’s tragedies. My guess is you’ve wept over many other difficult moments in your years serving schools. <br> <br> <br> <br> On Friday, The National Association of Secondary Principals shared a post from the Principal Recovery Network <a href="https://www.nassp.org/community/principal-recovery-network/">https://www.nassp.org/community/principal-recovery-network/</a>. This group was formed in 2019 for principals who have survived school shootings. 22 principals representing 15 states from this group. They also wrote an open letter to Congress that was published in the Washington Post over the weekend. It simply read:<br> <br> <br> <br> “We are members of a club that no one wants to join. Yet, our membership keeps growing.<br> <br> <br> <br> “We are the Principal Recovery Network, a group of school leaders who have lived through shootings at each of our schools. We constantly relive one of the worst days of our lives because we have taken it upon ourselves to reach out to principals who have experienced a shooting at their schools and help them navigate a path we all unfortunately have been down.<br> <br> <br> <br> “The tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was the 27th school shooting this year and one of hundreds since the massacre at Columbine High School 23 years ago. These horrific acts have compelled us to speak out. They compel us to act.<br> <br> <br> <br>
