Did You Know?

Today my intention was to repost a poem I wrote in 2012, a day after the Sandy Hook Shootings. On Dec 15th, 2012 I was just cleaning around the house. As I vacuumed and scrubbed, I kept hearing little phrases in my head. Not the kind where I need a doctor, but the kind that made me stop mid-cleaning and just write. My poem Did You Know was written in the view of a child in Heaven. She was telling her parents that she'd was in good hands with angels surrounding her and in God's comfort.
That Monday, my local radio station, CBS Radio's Wild 94.1, allowed listeners to call in and express their grief. This is something I'm always so encouraged by. Wild has always allowed listeners to spend hours calling in after serious events have occurred in our nation. I had the poem with me on the seat of my car and decided during my drive to work to call in so I could share it. I felt the words weren't my own and that they were written with God's grace. They were meant to be shared.
After about 20 minutes on hold, I got through. I was in traffic and felt I needed to pull over for safety. I was on the phone with 2 of the station DJ's. I was very nervous, but more so, emotional. I read my simple poem and they were stunned. They said that people were immediately texting in and even grown men text in to say they were crying in their cars. They asked me again to clarify when I wrote this and I explained my house cleaning inspiration.
I soon got a call from the station asking if I could email them the poem to share on their website. Of course! They posted the poem on wild941.com and it exploded. They called and told me within a few days it was the most hits and shares they had had on their site in years! Over 6000 likes and hundreds of shares and comments. I was humbled.
They mentioned to me that Mike Posner, Hip Hop artist, had just written a song called "Heaven" based around his emotions for the Sandy Hook tragedy. They asked if I would come to the station and do a read so that they could blend "Heaven" with "Did You Know". I was excited but also overwhelmed by the response.
By Tuesday night, I was at the station reading through Did You Know. It only took me a couple of times and we were done. The programmer blended the songs beautifully. The intent was to play the song after a 26 bell toll honoring those that died on the Friday, a week after they lost their lives. It was a somber time. The song played on Friday and my boss and I were at work listening to the station. Tears poured down my cheeks.
The song Heaven by Mike Posner featuring Did You Know by Christine Kimball was shared all over the country by CBS radio. It played all through the weekend. Again, I was thrilled and moved by the response.
Today, I wanted to attach links in this blog to those posts. But I can't find them. I know that the Newtown, Ct. shootings were very controversial, debated and possibly a conspiracy. It seems many of it's traces have been erased online. I don't know the truth. I would hope that if they really happened, that people would honor them as such and remember the families who lost their baby. If they were a big government hoax, then I hope that the song Heaven and my poem still stand on their own as a way for anyone who has lost their child to find a bit of comfort. But I'm afraid it will not reach as far as it did with the connection of Newtown events.
I'm going to post my poem here. By itself and still in its innocence with words I really do not feel I wrote.