I was planning to write something fun and light-hearted tonight, maybe about some high points of my week, or another random story from my life, but I’m just so sad and in shock. Paris tonight suffered one of the scariest and most unprecedented coordinated terrorist attacks in recent memory. The death toll continues to rise, though the terror seems to be over for the night, thankfully.

Social media has been both a comfort and an annoyance tonight…The cynic in me is frustrated by all the surface-level “solidarity” posts, which ring somewhat meaningless in the wake of such devastation. The misanthrope in me rolled her eyes at every person who tried to break the news to me, as if I hadn’t gotten it from French newspapers 2 hours earlier (she’s also a little bit snobby). But the humanitarian in me shushed those other guys down and was exceedingly thankful to have a direct line of communication to my people in France and all over the world. I am heartened to see strangers opening their homes to those who need shelter, using #PorteOuverte. I am relieved to see Facebook’s new “Safety Check” feature put to use, so that I am instantly notified any time one of my friends in Paris marks themselves as Safe.

I’m overwhelmed by and grateful for all of the people who have thought to check in with me, to make sure my friends are safe: as far as I know, they are. Most of my friends in France live in other parts of the country, but I will definitely feel much more at ease once I’ve heard from them all.

For now, my heart goes out to every single person in Paris and in France. Stay safe, stay compassionate, stay together. ❂