The unthinkable

She was 8.  The last time she was seen she was doing what an 8 year-old should be doing, riding her scooter with her helmet on around the courtyard where she lived, waiting on her friend to come play.  A courtyard with surveillance cameras.

There's a photo, a little blurry, from that surveillance camera of her.  Helmet on to protect her if she should fall.  It didn't protect her...

This little 8 year old girl was reported missing Sunday.  According to the Police Chief she was last seen a little after 5pm.  At 6:08pm she was reported missing.  By 8pm the news was spreading the word and social media took it from there, spreading her photo far and wide.  That night and the next day people were canvassing, putting up flyer's, desperately looking for this little 8 year old girl -the police, the sheriff, the FBI, locals, friends, family.  The river, the beach, the woods, the neighborhood, the apartment complex it was searched over and over and over again.  Her disappearance soon made national headlines...or at least Yahoo news.  Where had this 8 year old gone?

On social media the comments started coming in - "She lives across the street from a homeless shelter", "has anyone checked the homeless shelter", "don't forget the homeless shelter".  The homeless shelter was searched.  She wasn't there.  (I was amazed at how quickly blame was placed on those who don't have a building they call home.  That type of reaction seems as wrong to me as racism.)

By 8pm last night, 24 hours later, the news was reporting again, this little 8 year old girl had been found, dead, in a recycling bin.  The person under arrest, a 15 year old boy who lived in the same apartment complex.  Someone she may have seen or known before.  The police are reporting that it seems she went willingly into an apartment with the boy.  The Police Chief at today's news conference, when asked, said "We don't know the exact time of death at this moment but my feeling is that she was dead before we got the call that she was missing."  I watched his face as he made that statement...there was a soul deep weariness there...the search had been lost even before it had begun.

She died at the hands of someone she probably knew.  Not someone from the homeless shelter across the street.  Not a stranger.  Not the unknown bad guy that we all fear but someone she probably knew.  The alleged bad guy is a neighbor.

Praying tonight for a Mom and a Dad and extended family who are dealing with the unthinkable.

Praying tonight for a Mom who watched her son be arrested for allegedly doing the unthinkable.

Praying for my community that is in mourning...that is angry...that has questions...that is stunned.

Praying for a boy who has been accused of the unthinkable. (That is admittedly more difficult than the other three prayers.)

Praying.

The last photo of this little 8 year old girl is a blurry surveillance photo of her riding her scooter, helmet on her head. How I wish it could have protected her.

Praying tonight for Maddy.

Today was...

It's a beautiful February day in Northern California.  There are somethings that should not be said in the same sentence.  "Beautiful", "February" and "day" are some.  We are WAY below our rainfall average this year, as is pretty much the whole state.  Lil Bro is in the ski industry.  He finally got to start work 2 full months after his original start date.  Not good.  But that's not why I posted.

I took advantage of this beautiful February day.  First I had my weekly chiropractic appointment.  Then I stopped into get my toes done.  Yay!  The people at the nail salon asked me to make sure my friends knew that they were the only "F." Nail Salon in town.  Turns out that one of their employees quit after two months and is opening up a shop in town with a similar name at their old shop site!  People amaze me.  So spread the word!  "F." Nail Salon has changed locations!  The people at their old shop are imposter's!

I went from there to coffee with Jeffy and LN.  LN brought me mini-oranges with my name on them. 

LN and Jeffy were Mississippi buddies.  When packing lunches in Mississippi I would always put a banana in the group lunch sack with my name on it.  It reminded me of Mississippi.






Speaking of Mississippi, as we were sitting in the sun Ben sends me this picture and text "I forget, how do you eat these?" 
 
He's been sending me pics all week long as Mardi Gras has been in full swing.  I told him to stop sending me pictures.  I want to be there too!








Then I made Creative Guy take this pic with me as I took him to the office from his after school program.















A beautiful day does deserve the top down on the race car. (And it saved me from the "toxic toots" of Creative Guy.  We had quite the conversation about this bodily function and the need to have the top up on the car so I could smell them.  He is all boy.)  He was much better when I took the picture without him knowing. And before you "yell" at me for using my phone in the car, we were at a complete and total stop and I wasn't talking on the phone.

It was a good day...though the wrong day to forget to put on my SPF 30 moisturizer.  *Sigh*

Hope your day was beautiful too!

On the answering machine--update

The Pastor called me into his office today (yes, it's a Saturday, it was a church workday sprucing up the place, a job that never seems to end). Someone had called and left a message that went basically like this:

"Yeah, Hi. I go to the restaurant next door to the church. Yesterday I was there and wanted a glass of wine to go along with my food but they said they couldn't serve alcohol because the church is next door. I'm calling to see if there's something that you could do about that. They really need to serve wine with their food. So, hope there's something you can do to help them out and help me out. Thanks."

Ummmmm...couple of things here. #1, their being next door to a church doesn't seem to be the real issue. Rite Aid across the street sells alcohol and so does the liquor store next to that. I'm thinking a liquor license might not be what the owners want to get. #2. If you really need alcohol to eat the food at this establishment, I would find somewhere else to eat. Just sayin.

UPDATE: Songbird was right! CA code says:

23789.  (a) The department is specifically authorized to refuse the
issuance, other than renewal or ownership transfer, of any retail
license for premises located within the immediate vicinity of
churches and hospitals.

Going to the bank

Going to the bank is not something that I've really been fond of ever. Being someone who isn't fond of small talk, makes the time spent with bank tellers not so much fun. Not that they aren't perfectly nice people, but what do you say? Nice weather? Yeah.

So today I had to go to the bank. I've had deposits to make for a while now and needed to get it done. When I pulled up I noticed a difference right away to the bank. A big difference. Instead of entering through one door, there are now three. Walk in one, look for a green light walk in another, look for another green light and enter the bank. In between door number two and three are metal detectors. If it doesn't like what you have, you get locked in. YIKES!!! I tried to open door number three a little too early but it still let me through...and when I got in the bank employees erupted in applause and cheers. I got a sticker that says Awesome too.

Of course, when I got out I immediately called K and asked "have you been to the bank lately?". She had and she yet she didn't warn me. What a friend!

I'm happy that the bank employees feel safer, especially after their experience a few months back, but I have to say, going to the bank is less appealing to me now...though I did get a sticker out of it!