Horrific. Devastating. Sickening. A parent's worst nightmare.
There are no words for the story of the Krim family, their two young children stabbed to death last night, allegedly by the woman who was hired to care for them.
Nauseating. Incomprehensible. Too close to home.
And yet parents throughout Kevin and Marina Krim's Upper West Side neighborhood -- throughout the entire country, too -- have been searching for words, trying to find something that comes close to explaining how deeply they feel the sorrow of these strangers.
"They had a greyhound ... named Babar," the AP story ends.
Marina kept a blog, "Life with the Little Krim Kids," which has since been suspended. Her last entry, written mid-afternoon yesterday reads: "Leo speaks in the most adorable way possible. Firstly, he speaks super clearly, so you can understand every word is he is saying. And he does things like, "(I) want a fresh bagel" and "Dito (what he calls himself) wants cold milk" and most adorable of all, "No thank you" -- he never uses "No" alone, it's always paired with "thank you".
Another entry, back in February, is about a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit "Josie, our nanny" and "Josie's amazing familia!!!"
All so normal, so unremarkable, so familiar. Until the part where the Marina brings 3-year-old Nessie home from swimming class and finds a bloodbath in the tub. (Police could not confirm whether Yoselyn Ortega, the nanny charged with murdering of 2-year-old Leo and 6-year-old Lucia, and then slitting her own throat, was the Josie mentioned in the blog entry.)
"No motives have been released. None will make any sense," wrote Dan Good in the New York Post this morning.
"That could have been me," so many mothers said last night.
When there are no words, that's when they are needed most. The way to use them now is to send heartbroken condolences to the Krim family. And tell your children you love them.
Marina, Kevin, Nessie, we are so sorry for your loss.
We will be moderating these comments strictly. Perhaps there is a time for a debate about child care and working mothers, but this certainly is not it. Right now, compassion.
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