How Melrose Can Bear The Unbearable

If you look at any given monkeybars at any given moment, you'll probably find my 7-year-old there. Those, and labubus, are her new obsessions.

She also goes to the Winthrop School, and spends God-knows-how-much-time in that playground.

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Less than 24 hours after a tree crashed through the lives of our entire Winthrop and Melrose community, it's hard for me to think of another moment of joy coming on those monkeybars.

It's hard — for all of us — to find anything bright and life-giving in these long-awaited first days of spring.

It's almost unbearable to think about a family's unbearable loss. A community's unbearable loss. The boy has already been described as a loving, confident and exceptionally talented. And silly, of course, because he was just 9, and thank God for the silliness of 9-year-old boys.

But in the raw, tender hours after this tragedy, I think our Melrose community is called to bear it, as overwhelming as that feels.

We bear it to help build a broken family back up with support and love, to appreciate our teachers and first responders, to make sure none of us carry our grief and questions alone, and to make sure our children are OK.

Because, as impossible as it seems, there will be laughter on the playground again — even if it ripples through some bittersweet early spring days.

It's probably what a silly 9-year-old boy would want to hear.

The following resources have been shared by Melrose Public Schools to support conversations at home.

• Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Traumatic Events
• How to Talk to Children About Difficult News
• Visual-Good Grief Program:
• NASP Addressing Grief
• NYL-What to Say