Close to Home in my Heart

Imagine my shock and dismay as I heard a snippit on the radio today about a gunman walking into an Amish school and shooting children in Lancaster....ooops the phone started to ring.

I missed the Lancaster Pennsylvania part and boy my heart went to my throat as there is a Lancaster, WI about 45 minutes from here.
Still, I listened horrified at the thought of ANY school shooting. I anxiously 'googled' the story and refreshed through out the day. My heart saddened deeply as the story unfolded.
Some of my friends know that I live close to Amish communities here and deal with them daily. I felt very somber and very sad and very, very enraged.

Last Friday a young man in Cazenovia [we call it Caz] walked into his Weston High School and killed the principal. Pardon me, but what is wrong with people? What in the h*ll is wrong with people?

I still recall those scary first momments on May 20th, 1988. I was 'chaperoning' my oldest son's class on a field trip...we pulled up in front of Greenbriar School in Northbrook, IL. The principal came trotting out, looking around carefully. I noticed there were no children at recess. The principal informed the busload of children and parents that they were to form a single file and walk quickly and quietly into the school.
I watched him lock the glass front doors behind us. This was the very same grade school that I went to as a child...the doors were always open.
Rumours were whispered that there was a killer on the loose, that a woman had walked into another suburban school and had begun to shoot killing children.
This was the first school shooting that I can recall. Laurie (Wasserman) Dann.
I recall the feeling of being scared and yet I had my children safely with me. I was in my oldest boy's classroom and my youngest son was only 50 feet down the hallway.

So when I hear about school shootings, I get a thumpity-thump in my chest and a feeling of fear 18 years later.