Thursday, October 20, 2005

Confirmed

Today confirmed for me something I have always had a pretty good idea of. I do not handle emergency situations very well.

At 3:45ish today I get a phone call from my friend Misty. This is the jest of it:

"I picked up Kaiden and Ashton early today, but Daphne just called and said she couldn't pick up Noble because the school is on lock down."

Well, you may as well have just pulled the plug on me right then. I quickly hang up, grab my keys and start to run out the door. Literally run out the door, and would have started running down London Bridge Road. From what Misty tells me, I immediately went into sob mode, and hung up on her. Then something kicked in, and I call Adam. He's on his way, and I burst into tears (again) and tell him to rush to the school. I hang up on him.

Misty calls back, and tells me that the school parking lot is full of police cars, SWAT trucks, and news trucks, but she has no idea what's going on. She said she tried calling the school, and got disconnected. I'm hysterical, and can't even remember how to look up the number. Adam is stuck in traffic, but sees the helicopters circling the area he's headed. Finally Misty gets through, and is told that they are letting one parent in at a time. All we know is that they are searching for someone, and they put the schools on lock down when this happens.

Adam calls back, and says he has Ethan but doesn't know what's going on. They let him in, he grabs Ethan and they tell him to run to his car. WTF? Ethan explained it as "We had an emergency. Something very bad happened, and we had to turn off the lights and sit on the floor."

Of course half my office is running into my office to find out why I am in such a state of hysteria. People are volunteering to drive me home. I'm shaking, but no longer berserk. I do not handle stuff like this well... NOT AT ALL.

Someone in my office finally finds something on the internet. Someone is shooting at school buses from the woods behind the parking lot on the corner of Great Neck Road and Old Donation Parkway. Ethan's school is on the corner of GNR and ODP. I believe they said that four different buses have been hit. I'm hysterical again.

The helicopters are still circling, and the kids in the adjacent middle school are being released to their parents one a time. This is a school with over 1,000 students, and I imagine it will be awhile before they are all let out.

Anyway, I am so much better now that I'm home and we're all sitting in a room together watching the news and playing.

And to show you that this can happen ANYWHERE, and not just in the hood...this area is surrounded by homes in the million dollar area. What the heck is going on in this world?

dena at 7:38 PM

16comments

16 Comments

at 8:51 PM soapbox.SUPERSTAR said...: As I stated earlier...I will be calling your husband directly with all possible sob-worthy news!!!
at 9:23 PM Anonymous said...: Wow. I don't know what to say. That is horrible. Jackson has told me how they are supposed to pull the shade down on the door, lock the door, cut off the lights, and sit under the table if someone bad is in the school. It is so ridiculous that they even have to plan for stuff like that. I couldn't imagine what we would go through if they ever had to do it.
at 11:39 PM Mamacita (The REAL one) said...: Oh my gosh, how AWFUL

Michele sent me.

I'm glad you got your child out.
at 3:57 AM Olyal said...: Oh Dena!!! I am so sorry to hear of the stress this situation caused your family!! I hope that everything was resolved as quickly as possible and that no one was injured. It's a very sad world when children are the targets of violence.

I especially hope that Ethan is ok after a harrowing experience.

My thoughts are with you.
at 4:50 AM Chatty said...: Holy crap! Copycats should be poked with a hot iron up their asses. Unbelievable.
at 5:20 AM The Mistress of the Dark said...: It's sad what the world is coming too. Shooting at school buses! Yikes!
at 7:15 AM utenzi said...: Michele sent me this way, Dena.

Sounds like Ethan handled it better than anyone else, Dena. I don't think I'd have gotten too upset but since I don't have kids, I might not be right about that. I'm glad that Ethan is fine.

It looks like you did a blog makeover since I was last here 5 days ago. It's a nice clean look, Dena. Good job.
at 7:18 AM utenzi said...: I was reading Tiger Lilly's comment and it reminded me of school when I was young. We would have drills every week in which we'd hide under our desk curled up. This was in case of a nuclear strike--a holdover from the cold war, I guess. Kinda funny now and I can't remember how I felt about it at the time.
at 7:25 AM craziequeen said...: You feel so helpless when it's your kid's school, don't you :-(

Hi, came in from Michele's place for a quick looksee :-)

I'll be back!

cq
at 10:04 AM Minerva said...: So scary - especially when it happens to you, or in your town or to your kids.. We had the same incredulity in London after the bombings...

I so hope everyone was safe and they GOT THEM....

Michele sent me...

Minerva
at 10:05 AM Heather said...: Oh my God! I would have been sobbing too! I am glad Ethan is OK and I hope the rest of them are too!
at 10:14 AM Anonymous said...: Hi, thank you for your comment. I am so shocked at what you had to go through. What a world we live in. I would have reacted the same way. How is your son doing? Has your heart's pounding slowed down yet. Hopefull you'll get to destress a bit this weekend.
at 1:35 PM Anonymous said...: my kids school started doing lockdown pratices after the stuff started happening in the states (i'm in canada) and twice now, they have had to actually do a lockdown. but when they are in lockdown, you can't even get your kids out. the actually redesigned the front foyer to make it safer, you can't get into the school without going through the office, before, you could just walk in. it's scary when it happens and you hear about and all you can do is sit there and wait, cause you can't even get close to the school, the close the whole neighborhood down.
at 4:35 PM Your Mother said...: NO FUCKING WAY! Dude, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm glad you're all safe and together. K
at 11:40 PM kenju said...: Thank God your child was safe. It CAN happen anywhere, unfortunately. Some days I'd like to go back in time to the 50's, where we all felt safe.
at 9:52 AM phoenix said...: I am so with Kenju on this. Thank God your child is safe. Bless you for having to go through it.

Hi from Michele!

About

Joyously roaming through life. Meeting its topographical challenges, and facing each with a sarcastic wit, and an impetuous need to face even more bumps, dips, pits and peaks. How the hell else did I end up with a 22 year old, a 20 year old and a 4 year old?