I'm not too happy about the recent decline of the St. Louis Cardinals, but other recent events in the St. Louis area have considerably tempered that disappointment. A mother's throat was slashed and her 8-day-old daughter kidnapped ~ a news story with a happy ending when the baby was found and returned to the mother, who survived the knife attack. However, there was no happy ending in another story ~ a pregnant woman bled to death after being hit in the head by someone who was supposed to be her best friend ~ a best friend who then cut the mother's belly open with scissors and stole the baby, who also died. The mother's three other children were also missing, and after an intensive search, their bodies were found Saturday ~ stuffed into a washer and dryer at the housing complex where they had lived.

You like to think that crimes this heinous could never happen in the Heartland, but heartache tolerates no boundaries. Still, I continue to believe that God made love the strongest force in the universe, and somehow, some day love will prevail.

Hug your loved ones a little more tightly today, okay?