The Thin Blue Line

I started several different posts last night, after the family birthday party hullaballoo. The cousins and grandparents departed; Seg, asleep on the couch, not feeling well all through the festivities, was finally tucked up in bed; I settled down with a cup of tea.
What was I reading?
How was the weekend down the shore?
Why after all was the end of nursing my babies so sad?
But my mind kept racing. I almost obsessively clicked on site after site of local news stations and newspapers. I kept returning to this:

Gunman Kills Three Pittsburgh Police Officers

In short, Pittsburgh police were called to a domestic dispute around 7 a.m. Saturday, in Stanton Heights (a quiet, fairly safe little community) and when they arrived, the man inside the house opened fire with an AK-47. In the end, three policeman were dead, two more seriously wounded, and the suspect was captured alive. His mother, holed up in the basement, was safe, as were the rest of the family.

I will save the editorializing.
I am heartsick.
This sort of thing does not happen in Pittsburgh.

But this sort of thing just did.

And three men who were doing their jobs, with dedication and honesty and integrity, are gone from this earth.
They leave behind grieving wives, small children, a fiancee.
Families, friends, colleagues.

A community who weeps for them.