Looking back on 2023 isn’t easy.

One date that’ll always stick in my mind is April 15, 2023 — the day of the mass shooting in Dadeville. I’ll never forget texting my brother around 1 a.m. that morning, still not quite knowing the magnitude of the situation but starting to understand. The text was simple, just a few words. But I knew when Bob woke up the next morning and saw it, he’d read the heaviness in my words.

Lizi Arbogast Gwin is the managing editor of Tallapoosa Publishers.