The immensity of our world is realized when I consider what might be happening outside of the bread aisle of HEB, or the carpool lane, or during "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday nites after the boys are in bed. Sometimes I wonder what other people, in other homes, in other states, in other countries are doing/thinking RIGHT NOW ... while I'm buying bread.
Or I wonder WHERE they are RIGHT NOW.
"Could Condi be having lunch RIGHT NOW? And where? And what? And with WHOM?"
Or we all have the "Where were you?" tendency. Where were you when JFK/RFK/MLK/Reagan was shot? (I can answer the last one! Fifth grade. Mrs. Embrey's homeroom class.)
9/11? Watching Sesame Street w/ the Big One (who, at that time, was still The Short One).
But, it's not just the big "Where were you?" events that lead me to ponder.
Overnite, there may have been a prominent, or not so prominent, death or birth that I'll read about over coffee in the morning. And I think. Hmmm. While that family in Kansas was grieving/celebrating, I was folding clothes, or sleeping, or searching for the next vehicle in the set of Pixar Cars playthings. Makes me feel small -- and surrounded by a huge world.
Let me tell you what was happening today while I was running errands for charity -- buying Pedialyte and infant medicines for homeless children...
A man was being arrested. Probably LOTS of men were being arrested in the 20 minutes I was in Target, but I SAW this one. And he was big. And scary. And surrounded by flashing lights of police cars and in the company of a woman shaking her head as if to say, "Lord, not again." The cops were patting him down and cuffing him as I drove by. He offered his hands willingly ... behind his back. He'd done this before. Wonder what prompted the cops to pat him, cuff him, arrest him? What had he done at this convenience store that prompted three police cars? Must've been bad. He wasn't just a local camped out near the store for shelter. He'd DONE something.
Then, about the time Big, Scary Man was loaded into the police cruiser, 7 vehicles, the radio said, including two Big, Scary Trucks crashed on IH35.
Tho' I was nearby at the time, I didn't see the wreck and I didn't hear it ... exactly. I heard lots of sirens ... everywhere ... around every corner and RIGHT on my tail.
I was on my way to deliver donations to a children's advocacy center -- a safe place for children abused or neglected. (This is the one that haunts me the most. While I buy bread and shop for toys, a small person is hurt, left alone, ill.)
Traffic is stopped on the Interstate. Stopped. I've never seen the flashing emergency signs on the highway FLASH. Ever. They're there to tell you what to do in the event of an emergency, but usually they read, "Drive Friendly." This one was just flashing ... "HIGHWAY CLOSED." And while I'm usually the one to stay in the slow lane in traffic or the less-than-express line in the grocery store because sure as I move the pace'll pick up in the line I was in, I moved today. In fact, I drove right over a curb and across a median to get to the frontage road. I felt very Big. And Scared.
And as I wound my way along surface streets to deliver my goods to the children, I met a blaring siren at every intersection, it seemed. BLARING!! Big, SCARY!!
I could hear more sirens in the distance. I could see smoke.
DANG!! While I was buying meds, signing a check, loading my car ... RIGHT AT THAT INSTANT ... a truck driver fell asleep. Or answered her cell phone. Or dodged another errant car. And crashed into another truck. And burst into flames. And there were others driving their cars at that moment. Doing nothing wrong. But, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And, this afternoon, when I pick up The Short One at school and load his backpack into the car, emergency crews will still be on IH35 aiding the hurt. Cleaning the mess.
Just like in 2001, when I was on my way to pick up The Big One at school -- AT THAT VERY MOMENT -- a plane crashed into the Pentagon. And in MY world, there were no sirens. No smoke.
This afternoon, while I'm pushing my child in a swing, the Big, Scary Guy will be spending his afternoon in jail. And on a THURSDAY!
Where were YOU today?
