Monday, May 12, 2014

The Drama of the Morning: When the main new story is a little too close for comfort...

Paul's been looking at me like I'm a little crazy for the last half hour, as I've walked around talking about how thankful I am that he and Mae are home, that they're in one piece, that they're safe... but he's humoring me and staying here instead of going out to complete the errands on his to do list, where our alarm is set and our doors are locked.

If you're a news junkie you may have already seen the story, which the little facebook trending bar tells me is now at the top of the facebook searches for the moment.

This morning Paul and Mae got an early morning doctor's appointment, while Patch took his nap and Sadie and I completed her school work for the day.  Mae had to have antibiotic shots, because after nine days on antibiotics she still has an ear infection and fever, and so on the way home Paul stopped by Burger King to get her fries, since BKs fries are gluten free, and they're one of the few things from Mae's pre-allergy world that she loves that she can still have as a treat.

Paul and Mae arrived home, we had lunch and I glanced at my computer and saw breaking news... a shooting at the shopping center where I do most of my shopping (and almost all of my fabric shopping).
I've been pretty much transfixed since then.  It seems that while Paul and Mae were across the street getting her fries, a man walked into the Rite Aid a few building away and shot and killed a worker.

Right now the details are still scrambled and confused.  Some reports say there were two shootings.  People in the comments section are saying that the police scanners are reporting that there are shots fired at another shopping center about a mile north, that neighborhoods are being evacuated, and some have said that there are reports of blood outside a residence.

There's a shelter in place order and the schools on all sides of us are on lock down, along with Paul's school... so I closed the curtains and set the alarm and begged Paul to stay home and not go study until the order is lifted.

I'm just so thankful that he and Mae are home.  It makes me teary just thinking about them being so close to something like that this morning.

I'm ready to move to the country.  Way, way out in the middle of nowhere...

8 comments:

  1. Oh, how scary! So glad your family is safe!

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  2. Praying for your family today.

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  3. My husband says that he has lived in the middle of nowhere much of his life and in that time he has been hunted by men in the dark because they spotted him taking a walk and turned their car around and drove slow looking for him and then got out of their vehicle and followed him into the woods. Another time two hikers attacked his Dad and the only thing that stopped the one from killing his dad was the other one saw that my husband had the gun trained on the guy and was pulling the trigger. They dropped their weapons and fled. It is isolated in the boonies and bad things can happen there, and the perpetrators know that the sheriff is hours away at best and there won't be any witnesses. No place is really safe anymore. Meth labs and drug growers like the boonies too, and if you accidentally run across them you will vanish. Hubby said a terrorist cell was caught doing training exercises near the remote area he grew up in-- Islamic, and that was long before 9-11. One can only pray and stay alert. Safety is an illusion used to steel freedoms. I'm glad they were safe.

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  4. See, I've also lived more or less in the middle of nowhere for the most of my life... and I do far prefer it. While it's true in this life no where is safe I certainly didn't hear about people being shot next to my house three times a week... which happens not infrequently here.

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  5. That's really scary Cammie I would have done the same thing. I'm up north and our gun culture is different but we still have violence, it doesn't matter where you live, it never sits well when violence is close to where your children play and sleep.

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  6. I'm wondering what you're referring to in paragraph 7 when you say "until the order is lifted"?

    I hope and pray your family stays safe!
    TB

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  7. Hi TB,

    There was a "shelter in place" order where they were asking people in the area not to leave there homes while the guy was out running around. It wasn't anything formal or binding (at least on residences, the schools were definitely all following it), but I definitely was trying to follow it just in case there was more than one person, since at that point they were still reporting two shootings and no one knew if they were related. I think if I understand the conclusion they came to (at least last I heard), it looks like the gunman went north instead of our direction, and was found in a house with a man who died of multiple gun shot wounds.

    The whole things is so sad!

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    Replies
    1. Wow. That is sad! May they rest in peace.

      I looked up "shelter in place order" and came up with this from the Dept of Homeland Security: http://www.nationalterroralert.com/shelterinplace/

      That, to me, is crazy, and frighteningly dangerous to our Fourth Amendment rights.

      Nobody wants it to come to this, but I would've checked the gun case and ammo supply.

      We, as U.S. citizens, are not helpless, personally defenseless little puppies. And we shouldn't be frightened into thinking we are.

      The overreaching arm of the government in areas like these really give me the chills!

      TB

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