When they came home, I laid upon the soft spots at the bridges of their noses a kiss, which was more like a gulp for air. I desperately needed to drink in the kind of oxygen that only a mother’s children can bring to her when she learns another child has been hurt. I could barely breathe until they were in my arms again.

My heart breaks for the little children in the Connecticut shooting today. I hope that there really is a Great Beyond, and that in that place, all parents will one day hold their precious babies again.