Lockdown!

Yesterday my daughter's middle school went into lockdown for an hour and a half. Apparently there was an attempted house robbery nearby and the suspects jumped the fence onto the middle school property so the police ordered the school into lockdown until they could apprehend the 4 suspects. The suspects started out with a gun but lost it before they got onto the school grounds. The kids, of course, didn't know any of this. They thought it was just a drill at first but when it drug out longer and longer they started getting nervous. Information came trickling into them from their cell phones and from the teachers' computers and I started getting all kinds of texts from my daughter. First it was a pedophile, then it was two rapists and then they had guns. There were helicopters flying over the school so I knew it was real. I was delivering my Meals on Wheels and had to keep pulling over to answer my daughters texts. I knew she was O.K. deep down inside but I started thinking of all the other school disasters I'd heard about and I started getting a little nervous. It helped a little knowing that her brother was in the classroom right next to hers as a teacher. While sitting on the floor in the dark and in hushed tones for an hour and a half my daughter gained strength from texting her family that she loved them and telling them to pray for her and getting all kinds of encouraging and entertaining texts back from them. Kyle reminded her that Brandon (the teacher) was a closet Ninja and would take care of everything. Dad and Kyle were ready to storm the school and take down any and all threats to their sister and daughter. Michelle (her sister-in-law) was reminding her of past funny memories and trying to keep her spirits up. She also encouraged her to think happy thoughts like the summer release of Eclipse (Twilight). I'm not sure but I'm guessing that at one point or another every student and teacher on that campus thought about their families and wondered if they would see them again and wanted to tell them how much they loved them. Just like the people on the plane that went down on 9/ll, the thing you think about the most when you think it's the end is your family and how much you love them. I'm so glad my family knows they are loved. They say it and hear it every single day. I hope it doesn't take a possible disaster for you to let your family know how you feel about them. End of soapbox speech.