I just finished listening to an audiobook yesterday.
I had intended to listen to some books by Sharon Draper, since I’ve seen several of her books on other teachers’ bookshelves but hadn’t read or listened to any yet.
Due to library-related availability on the apps I use, I wasn’t able to check out one of Draper’s books and instead checked out a book called President of the Whole Fifth Grade, by Sherri Winston. It stood out against the backdrop of other books that might have been similar in content because I can so clearly remember myself wanting to be President when I was in second grade.
It turned out to be a cute book, sprinkled with recipes and typical upper elementary school drama.
But as I went to GoodReads to update my progress toward my goal of reading a book a week this year, and to leave a review, I decided to look at other books by the author.
At the bottom of her author page what looked to be a memorial blog post about losing her daughter in November.
I dug a little deeper and found out that the author’s daughter, Lauren Winston, was killed in a hit-and-run accident just last week.
I have no deep insight or pithy, pseudo-comforting one-liner to offer here. I only know that we must always remember that the people we encounter every day – whether in person, through a computer screen or, in my case, an audiobook – are real, three-dimensional people with full lives.
May we always allow this knowledge to guide our thoughts and actions.
And may light perpetual shine on Lauren Winston‘s soul.