Worry is my middle name

On April 16, 2007, I went to work without a care in the world.  15 minutes after arriving, I received  phone call from a customer's wife, that said her husband should be in my lobby (I work in a small post office)and if he was,  to please tell him to go back to work because there was an emergency.   The customer was a Virginia Tech Police officer.

My husband was at VT that day - he is an employee.  I immediately sent him a text asking if everything was okay.  He said he was not aware of any issues but would keep me posted if he heard anything.

I heard sirens.  2-4-5-8 - more, lost count.  Policemen heading towards Blacksburg. 

My husband send me a text.  "Where is Kevin....exactly?"

I tried to reach my oldest son, to see if he had a class.  I could not reach him.  Cell towers busy.

I called my Mom, and she said that he had a 9 a.m. class.

Kevin was a Sophomore at VT, his class was close to the building that the gunman was in.

I texted him - he responded that he was fine - was grabbed by a policeman and locked in a classroom with others for safety, while they looked for a gunman.

You know the rest of the story.

I did not get a lot done that day at work.  All I wanted to do was to see him, to hold him. Was so thankful that he was okay, and yet found myself feeling guilty because of the Moms and Dads that lost their child and I still had mine.  I remember one of the officers saying how eerie it was when they went in a classroom where there was many victims and hearing all the cell phones ringing, going unanswered. 


Dec 14, 2012 - Sandy Hook Elementary. Those little kids didn't have cell phones.  But imagine how the parents must have felt waiting to see if they would be reunited with their child or would be identifying them as a victim.

Jan 1, 2013 - Today we received word that the schools in our county will be closed because someone has found a connection between an elementary school in the area and Sandy Hook.  Apparently an article was written saying that this school may be the next school massacre target.  In The Dark Knight Rises, there was some map that Sandy Hook was on, as well as a town called Narrows.  An internet search led this "writer" to find an elementary school with that name in our county.

I have a younger son.  In elementary school.  In Giles County.

We have School Resource Officers in our school.

I am going to try not worry - but there are some crazy f*cks out there.