Lockdown

Given that a) my mother-in-law is in poor health and could pass any time; and b) elementary school teachers have far less flexibility than us working folks when it comes to personal phone calls/e-mails/texting while at work, getting a phone call at the office from my wife is always cause for concern.

Imagine my surprise when she called me this morning, and said, "If you hear anything on the news about a school lockdown, it IS our school, and I'm OK. It actually happened before school started so a lot of her kids weren't there yet, so she took the little ones she had in class into the center classroom in her building (away from all the windows), and had everybody practice "dark and quiet."

I had a full morning of meetings and other tasks, so had limited time to check the news. I ran up to our office manager's desk and explained what was happening, and asked her to check online for any news. No sooner had I gotten that out than Carol called again and told me the lockdown was over and things were getting back to normal.

We still don't know what caused it (whatever it was apparently didn't make the news), but I was left very grateful for my wife's safety, and for good cell service to keep in contact during emergencies. What a helpless feeling knowing someone you love could be in danger at that moment. I was fully prepared to leave work if I thought it was necessary, but still don't know exactly what I would have done.

Grateful to God for his protection. I hope the affluent, somewhat entitled parents of Thurgood Marshall Elementary "get" that my wife and most, if not all of her colleagues, would take a bullet for any of their children if it came down to the worst.