That's right.  This is my son's name painted in red on his bedroom wall. 

Instead of getting outraged, I stood back and admired his work.  Noticing that he most likely painted his masterpiece with his finger, secretly hidden behind his door, with complete pride.  Pride that he had written his name and made his mark on his bedroom.

We encourage creativity in our house.  I have lost countless canvases meant for projects to children's art, and we are constantly raving and encouraging their little brains to create new peices to hang on the fridge and on our walls.  And of course, we encourage our little guy, active in pre-school, to practice writing his name on everything that he does.

So, I stopped, mid-vacuum and admired his handywork- noticing that for once, he wrote his name without the addition of a pencil to grip as he tried so hard to write out his letters.

I asked him if he indeed wrote it and he proudly nodded yes.  I told him it was wonderful, but that is not where we write our name, and he will be helping re-paint his wall.

Things that make us feel shaked, scattered, and completely out of our comfort zone.

It is time likes these that I realize how important our home really is.  Whether this home be your residence, your town, your state, your country, or our planet. 

Even though most of us do not live in Boston, may have never been to Boston, or even understand people who speak with a Boston accent; we feel and we grieve. 

We think "what if that were my son? my daughter? my friend?" 

"What if that was my city?"

And while these are answers that we hope to never answer or understand, we can't help but wonder. 

In times of tragedy, I think with my glass half full.  Instead of thinking of how scary our world and country have become in the past few months, I think of what I can do to make it better.

I can teach my children good; to be good, to feel good, to know good, and to do good.  I can change the world with my two children and I can do it by starting at home.

Let your home be a place of good, of comfort, of safety, and of education.  Education to do the right thing, to feel okay to talk, to feel upset, and to know the difference between good and bad.

Our homes are the foundation of our beginnings, of our family, and it is our safety.  Let's do our best to be advocates of this and to open it to whoever needs it.