One Year Later

Our town of Thousand Oaks, California is still in mourning. Last year we endured a double tragedy--the Borderline Shooting and the Woolsey Fire. One year ago today, a young man, former military veteran with mental health issues stepped into a crowded Borderline nightclub and killed 12 people including Sgt. Ron Helus of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department before killing himself. 

There will be a memorial service later today in the Healing Garden at the Conejo Creek North Park. I paid my respects this morning at the Borderline--the news vans had already arrived and a reporter was talking to several survivors. Stepping away I walked over to the entrance and saw their photos--the patrons and employees who had lost their lives that night. I recognized the 20 year old server, Kristina Morissette, immediately--that smile she shared with my wife and I a month before the shooting at the Borderline during a Rotary function. She even joked with us about the service.

A young woman survivor and friend of Morissette smiled, "Kristina was like that, could make friends with anyone." Reed, another survivor, recounted the evening and, while disturbing, I knew he needed to talk it through. "I saw a smoke canister go off, thought it was a joke. I helped one of my friends who wasn't doing so well escape through a window."

"How are you coping?"

"I have trouble with the fireworks on the holidays...but this changed me. I am now studying to become a law enforcement officer." Then he looked over to the entrance and said, "I haven't been here since that night. I'm going back inside the Borderline later...I have to. I have to keep living for them."