I Have Marfan Syndrome

On Tuesday, Nov 10, I was driving Samantha to school at 8 am. We pass by the high school as we drive out of town to the Taconic Parkway. We saw every police car in town zooming our way, and I saw them turn into the high school. As I got closer to the Taconic, we saw the big Swat truck pass us. Every police car in the surrounding counties had to have been on its way. All I could think was it's either a bomb threat or someone with a gun.

When I returned at about 9, about half of the town was locked down, and there were helicopters everywhere, with the federal seal. This is a very small town. Everyone knows everyone here. It's a one traffic light town. Of course I was hoping for the best - that the Federal seal helicopters were maybe the president visiting.

When I arrived home, I immediately asked my sister in law (sort of share a house with them - a big Victorian house divided into two halves) if she knew anything, and she told me there was a parent holding the principal hostage.

How are you supposed to prepare your children for something like this?

It almost brought up some of the feelings that I still have hidden away from 9/11. I was in Manhattan when that happened, and that was scary. I wasn't downtown. I was working at Columbia University then, on 116th Street. But you still wonder if there's going to be any more planes coming, especially since Columbia is such a big easy target, full of rich white kids... plus there was just no way to get out of Manhattan.

As a child, we used to joke about that, after having seen "Escape From New York". What would it be like to have Manhattan be a prison - oh, it would never happen.... It become kind of claustrophobic. You begin to think, "How far can I realistically walk? I can make it to the East Side in about 2 hours... then I just have to get over the Throgs Neck... will they let us walk on the highway?"

At that time, I believe I had been dating Pauline for about 2 or 3 months, and I was trying to get her to leave Manhattan, but she wouldn't. I didn't push too much, because I knew she wouldn't. So I stayed with her. I knew she wouldn't leave her friend and her cats. Her dog could walk it with us.

I had that same claustrophobic feeling for a second when I saw all the streets closed here. It wasn't just near the school, but for maybe ten blocks around the school.... and the town only has about 10 blocks around the school! Well, maybe 11 blocks. Luckily everything was over, and everyone was out of here by the time I returned with Samantha at about 3. It's not really something that a 4 year old should be thinking about. It's something that us parents have to worry about for them- right?

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Comments (1)

• m-d-Y H:i:s | Lucia  - The doors are unguarded

  Human beings are under lots of stresses at this time. Violence begets violence and that is what we have in tv programs, in movies, in video games, in wrestling, in sports,etc. As part of the human race, as grandmother of two beautiful little girls who are brave enough to come to live on this Earth in these difficult times, I submit that we must grow spiritually.

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