Posts Tagged ‘guns’

09
Apr

26 Tuesdays: Nancy Lanza

Mom locket

Last week’s 26 Tuesdays honoree was Chase Kowalski. Chase wanted 2 front teeth for Christmas. Since I’m not a dentist or orthodontist, I don’t think I can do something to help someone get their two front teeth. Thankfully, Chase was already a triathlete at the tender age of 7. While I have completed a 3 day walk, I am the first to confess that I’m running-challenged for a variety of reasons. And being running-challenged, alone, would probably keep me from completing a triathlon.

I am fortunate to be surrounded by a plethora of people who have made running great distances a part of their lives. They inspire me since they are often running to support great causes, such as cancer research or heart disease prevention or feeding starving people in other countries.

There is so much more to running these events than just training and paying the entrance fee. Often, there is a fundraising minimum and inevitably, one is buying new running gear of some sort to replace the worn out stuff from training so hard. Then, there is the blister aid stuff, hydration beverages (while training) and nutrition measures needed. In some cases my friends and family are also traveling great distances to participate, incurring hotel, air, car and additional meal expenses.

Thus, I decided my act of kindness would be to offset some of these “unseen” expenses for my “other-centered” friends. After all, the good book encourages us to “finish the race” before us.”

Today’s honoree is Nancy Lanza. If her last name sounds familiar, there’s a reason. She was Adam Lanza’s mother and the very first victim of the Sandy Hook tragedy. I confess that I have mixed emotions about Ms. Lanza. On the one hand news reports describe her as a good mother who tried to get help for her son, Adam. On the other hand she encouraged her son to be around guns. While I do support the 2nd amendment, the counselor in me does feel that those who have really serious mental challenges should probably not be around guns.  But, I also don’t think that Ms. Lanza deserved being killed by her son for this possible lapse in judgment. All of us, as parents, fail at some aspect of parenting and I hope I never have to pay for my parenting lapses as Ms. Lanza did. My prayers are that we all work harder at being diligent parents and getting our children help when needed. Here is what CNN wrote about Ms. Lanza:

Nancy Lanza, 52

Before the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother — Nancy — in her home in Newtown’s Sandy Hook community, authorities said. Adam was living with his mother, two law enforcement sources said. The other son, Ryan, was living in New Jersey. Nancy Lanza was a personable neighbor who lived on a block of spacious houses on a crest overlooking gentle hills, acquaintances said. She and her family moved to the Sandy Hook neighborhood about 1998, raising two sons with husband Peter until the couple separated a few years ago. “It was just a nice, normal family,” neighbor Rhonda Cullen said Saturday, recalling a recurring neighborhood ladies night over the Bunco dice game. At odds with this image of New England gentility was how the Lanza household possessed a cache of weapons — including an assault-style rifle and two handguns — in a community prized for its stillness. Lanza was a stay-at-home mom.

So, the maryanninprogress acts of kindness stands at 24. What did you do for your act of kindness this week?

Tomorrow’s Post: The lessons I learned from my first writer’s conference may not be the ones the planners hoped I’d learn…