KINDA TRAUMATIC...

Friday morning, I get a call around 8:50 in the morning from Melissa, my babysitter. She tells me when she was taking the kids to school, there were countless police cars surrounding the school, and the cops were kneeling down, with their weapons pulled and pointed into the woods behind the school. One police officer stopped her and said she could not leave the kids at school, and that she had to take them back home. He wouldn't tell her anything else. I immediately get on the news website to find that the bank just a block away from the school was held up by an armed robber, and he was still on the loose in the area. Whoa. At this point, I am now thankful for that new sewer project which has kept the roads tore up by Melissa's house, so the bus couldn't drive down the street to pick up the kids. Just for the week, the kids would be "car riders" until the street is put back together. Usually, I cursed under my breath for the inconvenience of these road blocks, but not today!! If they had been on the bus, they would have been re-directed to Perry Meridian Middle school for a fun day of sitting in the cafeteria. Haille was in tears, Trentin wasn't really phased at all. As Melissa described, it was a scene straight out of a movie. Periodically throughout the day, I kept tabs from the news website, that the robber was still at large, and hiding in the woods directly behind the school, literally just a few yards away from the playground. Eventually, he would trade gunshots with the police officers, and they found him dead. When I picked up the kids, they were eager to tell me about what happened, and we glued ourselves to the news that evening. Haille and Trentin both agreed "I'm glad he's dead." NO NO NO... I say. Time for a talk. I explain to them that even though he did a terrible thing, it is very tragic, and no one will know why he made the choice to rob a bank. He could be someone's son, husband, friend, uncle, even dad, and we never want to be thankful someone lost their life. I explained that he made a horrible mistake, and if he would have made the right choice, he would be alive today. In jail, but alive. Basically, they got a lesson about consequences for choices people make. They did understand, so their fright turned into excitement to see their school mentioned on TV. Here's the news link ..... http://www.wthr.com/Global/category.asp?C=136236&clipId=4728583&topVideoCatNo=136234&autoStart=true

I do hope, though, the teachers will talk to the kids today, to reassure them that the school is safe, and they are in no danger at all. I imagine some of the kids will be reluctant to play on the playground, if they even let the kids outside today.