I know nothing of the fear of waiting. Nothing of the relief or devastation.

I know nothing of the pain that caused this, and nothing of the pain it caused.

I know nothing of the noise. Or of worse, the silence.

All I know is this: I grieve because safe isn't. Innocent isn't. Not today.

I sat with my sons and told them what I could, of something I don't understand.

I listen to them snore now, still unwilling to get very far from them.

I know nothing of what to say to the moms who are breaking open tonight. Except this, we will hold you. We are in this together. I hold you now on this terrible day and all the tomorrows to come.

Grace for the rage.
Faith for the fear.
Love for the impossible.

I can take nothing away. So I will stand beside you. And love.

This was originally published on www.mamalode.com on December 14, 2012.

About the Author

Elke

Elke Govertsen is a entrepreneur and founder of Mamalode. She has been featured in Real Simple, Forbes, Where Women Create, Ad Tech, and listed as one of Origin Magazine's "Top 100 Creatives." She has been a speaker at The Girls Lounge, Adweek, C2Montreal, HATCH, TEDx and (her favorite) in classrooms. She speaks on a variety of topics from entrepreneurship to overcoming obstacles. She loves consulting in the areas of community design, storytelling and brand building. Her special skills include extreme bootstrapping, overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities. Of the many things she has learned by doing Mamalode, her ability to work with absolute chaos/kids/mess just might be the best. She is learning that slowing down creates more impact.