Although I never met Brittanie Cecil, and I've never been to Columbus, Ohio, I can not begin to express the grief that wells up inside my heart whenever I see the school photograph of the little teenager, on the cusp of adolescence, her blonde hair pulled back
into a ribbon, and her blue eyes sparkling at the prospect of all those summer pool parties, those early - fall hayrides, her prom, her high school
graduation with the
cap and gown sailing high
into a sky as wide and full as her hopes and dreams.