Virginia Tech...Our Lives After

I was getting back to blogging before the Virginia Tech tragedy occurred. Then it felt like I'd been kicked in the gut, I didn't want to write. A week later I felt better, but it had all been said. Still, I needed to address it to continue.

We're painfully aware--and saturated from media exposure--of the incident at VT. Though we live a half-hour from Tech and were indirectly affected, it was too close to home. We realized we were only a degree or two away in separation. Spencer's high school band teacher was friends with Ryan Clark, the RA who died. She was interviewed on Talk of the Nation on NPR from her office during band class. Emerson's soccer coach is a Tech student, he called off practice and went home. We have friends who work at Tech and others who know professors who lost students in the tragedy. Another friend knows a State Trooper who analyzed the crime scene. My client had a dental appointment in Blacksburg the day after the tragedy, the dental practice lost two patients. We were sad and overwhelmed and went through the motions of every day life.Homes and businesses in Floyd, particularly in Christiansburg and Blacksburg, have displayed orange and maroon ribbons, flowers and signs saying "Our thoughts and prayers are with Virginia Tech." Cars have VT flags waving proudly from their windows in support, an activity usually reserved for fall football season. It's impossible to go anywhere without a reminder.

My husband had a gig at Tech last week for an awards dinner for the School of Engineering, it had been on the calendar for months. Emerson asked if he had to go. We explained rationally that everything would be fine. Scott said he'd call when he arrived on campus and would call again before he left. I found myself anxiously awaiting his call. I knew logically that everything was okay and I was so proud of him that he was playing music for people that needed to heal. Yet, I found myself watching the clock and waiting for the darn phone to ring. Finally, he called. We told him to have a great gig. He reported that he saw some students throwing a frisbee, a 'normal' scene for a college campus, it made him feel better.

We're getting back to our busy lives. We may talk about what happened when we bump into people, but we'd prefer to not bring it up and that it became a bad memory. We're still in a bit of shock and disbelief. This will be with us for a long time, I'm afraid.

[As the Tech tragedy unfolded, we lost power due to high winds throughout our area. We were without power for 48 hours. It caught us by surprise, AEP had recently cut down trees that surrounded the lines on our farm and all the way up our road (we're near the end) giving us a false sense of security. With a battery-operated radio (and kerosene lamps), we listened to the news conferences from Tech.]