I find comfort in the eternal nature of nature.

Ten years ago today, I walked into the late summer night, 

looking for peace.

I listened to the world around me

and heard crickets singing their end-of-summer song.

I passed a family of four, which was soon to be a family of five:

father, mother, great with child, daughter, toddler son.

I thought of how normal they looked, 

and I thought of how so many families

would not feel "normal" for days, weeks, months, years to come,

if ever.

When I heard the crickets, I thought, tonight the crickets are singing in Central Park.

The natural world lives on.

  Night falls, the stars appear. 

Humans mourn but all around the earth tells us: 

Life goes on.

A time to weep; a time to mourn.

A time to remember, with love.

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When I graduated from Penn State in 1979, one of my oldest and dearest friends gave me a copy of "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran.

Among his many beautiful words are these:

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."

I have seen those words prove true in my own life. I pray the same for all who mourn and remember today.