Absolutely Horrible

Today marks one of the most horrific events in my lifetime. 9/11 was absolutely awful. Columbine was devestating. Virginia Tech was terrible. But the shooting at Westroads hits so damn freaking close to home.

I was in Kansas CIty when the shootings take place. But if I was in Omaha, what if I had decided to run to Von Maur over lunch to pick up a Christmas gift? My mom wants to get a red sweater to wear and some nice, comfy PJs for a Christmas party Monday, and thought she better go before she gets to start dog sitting Macy Saturday. She considered going today.

Here's an email I recently sent to friends. I am sure I will post more about this soon. Until then, additional thoughts because I can't really focus right now.

Yes, I was in Kansas City. But I still don’t know that I have ever been this shook up. You guys this is awful. It’s horrible. It hits so damn close to home. I have presents under my tree from Von Maur. I spent three hours there Friday afternoon. A family friend works there and was standing next to a guy who got shot in the head. Right freaking next to him. Von Maur is the place to go. The jeans I am wearing are from Von Maur. It’s the Nordstom of Omaha. It’s where we got my mom that Sonicare face wash thing from Oprah’s favorite things (that we were talking about at lunch, LTD). One of my freaking best friends was in the parking lot going to go in and do Christmas shopping, but got a phone call and was chatting in the car. For SOME reason he decided he didn’t want to shop and left. As he was pulling out of the parking lot the cops started pulling in. When he got home he turned on the TV and realized what he almost walked into. Anyone I know could have been there.

I just can’t comprehend it. A woman on the radio said she was listening to gun shots and Christmas music at the same time. One woman’s young daughter told her mom she thought it [gunshots] was a hammer. I couldn’t even hold back the tears when I crossed into Omaha and then you can see the store from the interstate exit I take to get home and I just felt nauseous.

Normally the first thing I do tonight is turn on our Christmas lights plug in the Christmas tree. It was really hard to do that tonight. It’s just terrifyinh.