My heart is with all my friends and prayers to those who lost loved ones in San Bernardino, CA . . . as we have had another mass shooting in an area I was raised in and still have family and many friends in Highland and Redlands, CA as well …THIS IS the second MASS SHOOTING that has happened to ‘touch’ me as the first was not far from where I lived in So. Oregon, yes, the shooting in Roseburg, OR at the Umpqua Community college.

I moved to So. Oregon in 1986 from San Bernardino/Highland, CA.We moved to the area in 1970 when my dad came home from Vietnam and had his last transfer before retiring from the Air Force at Norton Air Force base. We had moved from Toms River, New Jersey. My parents wanted to retire as they met and married in San Bernardino. I went to elementary, JR. High and graduated from San Gorgonio High School within the San Bernardino School District.

I worked for San Bernardino County and the State Employee’s Credit Union. I also had worked in downtown San Bernardino. My brother still works for the San Bernardino Schools. NOT in a million years would I have ever imagined a MASS SHOOTING like this could happen in my earlier hometown. Thankfully none of my friends were among the victims, but my brother know of the victims. I still can not wrap my mind around all of this unfolding while watching it on CNN. I was stunned in disbelief.

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(Community members gather in prayer during a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the mass shootings at the Inland Regional Center December 3. Credit: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

MY HEART IS BROKEN . . .  Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon