The week that was...

....well, a lot of things, I reckon.

Went to see Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder in concert on Thursday night. GREAT, great concert. Wow. Those guys really know how to rock the house. You should really check them out.

Work? Frustrating, infuriating, depressing, perplexing, stressful, intriguing. Yes, all those and more. It started out mostly frustrating and ended up quite perplexing. I had intended to only work half a day on Friday, but due to a potential software problem that popped up earlier in the week, I spent all day Friday chasing a phantom. Finally gave up and came home. I'll think about it and stew about it all weekend. Unfortunately, the folks that might be able to actually figure it out are all on leave from today until after T-giving. It'll just have to wait, I reckon.

The rest of life? Just generally sucking the Big One right now. I really want to be upbeat. I want to be happy. I want everything to be sunshine and daisies. What a crock. Real life just ain't that way, huh? The Depression Monster is behind the closet door just waiting to jump out. May as well let him. Shit.

R. I. P., Shaniya Davis

Being a Search & Rescue responder, I am particularly attuned to news stories about missing persons. And if that missing person is a child, even more so. We are taught that all searches are emergencies, and I think that is especially true for a missing child, whether she wandered off or was taken off. I have a Google News search engine that runs every day and sends me an email with any news articles that have appeared that day with the terms "search rescue dogs" in them. So, I sometimes hear about missing folks and searches that haven't made it to the mainstream headlines yet.

About a week ago, a precious little 5 year old girl named Shaniya Davis was reported missing by her mother in North Carolina. Responders spread out and started searching wooded areas around the mother's home. When I heard the report, I knew it was early and hoped for the best and said a little prayer for her and for all the searchers that would be out scouring the countryside looking for her. The next day, breaking news had the mother's boyfriend arrested and then released and then hotel security camera footage of a different man carrying Shaniya into a hotel room. At that point, I suspected the worse. The mother was arrested and charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse. Authorities believe Shaniya was sold by her mother for prostitution.

As the days stretched on and searchers continued to search, hope of finding Shaniya alive grew less and less. Today the worst was confirmed when her lifeless body was found dumped along a roadside in North Carolina.

What a sad end to a beautiful and blessed life. I ache for the rest of her family. I am sad for the searchers, that they were not able to have a happy end to this story. What would Shaniya have done one day? Teacher? Doctor? Beloved wife & mother? President? Engineer? We will never know and I think the world is a sadder place for her loss. There is True Evil in the world. If you don't believe it, just think about the last few hours of Shaniya's life. She died alone and most likely violently, not knowing why it was happening to her and crying for her mother or her father.

Hug your babies today, even if they aren't "babies" anymore. Tell them you love them. Thank God they are alive and well. And please say a prayer for all the folks out there that give freely of their time and effort whenever someone goes missing, in the hopes that the missing will be found and brought home safely.