Thoughts inspired by Sophie Olivia, 3/21/94 - 3/31/94

Today is the 14th anniversary of the day my daughter Sophie died. Imagine a sculpture, or something, that has been shattered. After putting it back together again, some pieces were lost, some put in the wrong place and there are a few pieces left over that you don't know where they belong. The sculpture then looks mostly the same as it did before, but not entirely whole. That's as close as I can get to describing how I feel about it. I'm not going to say more, only because it would be too long and I don't feel up to attempting to organize everything in my head into a coherent form. Luminiferous Ether has a post about her here and Sophie's older sister, Cinderbelle, wrote about her, as well as some other things, here.

I love you, Sophie.


While driving around doing some errands today, thoughts of Sophie were burbling around in my brain. I turned on the radio and WORT FM was broadcasting an interview with Lawrence Colburn, one of the heroes (and by hero, I mean that he was one of the soldiers who intervened to stop the slaughter) of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968. Since this month is the 40th anniversary, Mr. Colburn, along with a number of other people, were in My Lai, which is where this interview was held. While listening, I thought about how Sophie's death effected my life. I can't even imagine how this tragic event must have shaped the lives of everyone involved, military and civilian, hero, perpetrator and victim. I also wonder how many massacres like this are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and we never hear anything about it, neither the horror nor the heroes. How many lives are being destroyed or changed forever? If you'd like to hear that interview, go here and listen to or download the 3/31/08 broadcast of "A Public Affair." The interview will be archived on their site through 5/30/08.