I can’t remember what we were doing yesterday morning and why my husband and I didn’t turn on the morning news. I probably unloaded the dishwasher and made some breakfast. I took a shower and washed my hair and got dressed. I messed around a little on Pinterest, tried to remember how to post a picture on a blog post, made a few phone calls, paid a couple of bills, then folded some laundry.
It wasn’t until later in the morning that I found out that something horrific had happened—that somebody had opened fire in a movie theater in Colorado—that many people had been injured or killed. I don’t even remember how I heard. Did I flip on the radio as I ran errands? Even then, however, it didn’t really sink in. It was like I was running around in this oblivious little cloud, doing my everyday little things. Around noon when I got back home, our neighbors called and asked if we wanted to go to a late lunch with them. It looked like that could work out, and we made arrangements.
On the way to the restaurant and in the restaurant, we pretty much just talked about normal things and mentioned what had happened in Colorado, but that was it. It was almost as if we were trying to avoid the topic. It wasn’t until later that night that I turned on the news and caught some of what had apparently been on all day. When I checked Facebook that night, someone had posted a television station’s synopsis, and I tuned in to that. As I watched and listened, I finally began to feel the impact of what had happened. I finally began to feel the pain of those who’d lost loved ones, those who were suffering, those who were in emotional shock. I finally began to empathize. And as I watched people in Colorado being interviewed, many said basically the same thing: Life is uncertain. We don’t know when our loved ones will be wrenched from us. We don’t know when we ourselves will be taken from this earth. Their words served, once again, as a reminder. Life is too precious to take for granted.
Anya's Observations 