As a mom, one of my biggest goals is to protect my daughter from everything I can and keep her out of harm's way. Unfortunately, the reality is that I am completely powerless when it comes to that. I cannot protect her from everything, try as I might.

On the morning of September 17th, a bomb exploded during a charity run in New Jersey, fortunately, leaving no one wounded. That same evening in New York, another explosion occurred leaving at least 29 passersby wounded.

Before becoming a mother, this would have still scared me but not as badly as it does now. I find myself thinking about the possibility of walking with my daughter and suddenly, there is an explosion. The possibility of there being something that dangerous very close to us without my knowledge terrifies me. My daughter is two and a half months old and I still get nervous taking her in the car because of how other people drive. I don't want to fear taking her for walks or doing something that will benefit others.

There has been so much violence in the past few years that I fear for my baby's life. It especially scares me that most of these violent acts have taken place so close to my home. New York and New Jersey aren't that far of a ride from Rhode Island. The Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 occurred only a month after I had been in Boston for a competition, and I live just over an hour away from Boston. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that happened in 2012 took place in the state that my younger brother lives in.

Now I may just be a paranoid mother. I'm a first time mother so it's typical for me to be paranoid, but with so many acts of violence happening in a short period of time, who wouldn't be scared for their children's safety and their own?

Raising a child in this world genuinely scares me. I am afraid for the day she goes out on her own and I cannot protect her. I am afraid that this world may never get better. For now, I will carry her close to me and try my absolute hardest to protect her from what I can.