As I went out on my run this morning, I passed by St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, like I always do. It usually doesn't even cross my mind to pay attention to it (since I pass it all the time), but this morning felt almost poignant around the facility. One year ago, in the coming week, the church held several of the massive funerals for victims of the Tucson shootings that happened today in 2011. There were people parked on our street, and cars lining the main roads for a mile around the church for the funerals of the 9-year-old girl and the federal judge. It was just tragic to watch, and even more tragic what happened.
I remember that morning really well - it was my first piano lesson back with my students at their house, which happens to be about 2.5 miles north of where the shootings occurred. We started at 10am, and I had both of my daughters and my husband in tow to help out. I remember my students' cat deciding that E in her car seat (at ~2 weeks old) was a great toy and leaving little claw marks on her head. I remember they had the doors and windows open because it was such a nice morning. I remember hearing lots and lots of emergency sirens after about 10:30am that morning and wondering if maybe there had been a big car accident down at that intersection (it's a HUGE intersection for traffic). I also remember my husband and I talking about going to get lunch at Beyond Bread, a restaurant in that same plaza, that very weekend. It was strange - you could almost feel something wasn't quite right in the air. Well, no matter, I taught my lessons, we packed up the girls (later than usual, as it took awhile), and headed home. At that point, we went to the computer to see if any of the local stations had information on what was going on in that area. My MSNBC homepage came up and splayed across the front was "MASS SHOOTING IN TUCSON SHOPPING CENTER." I still feel chills thinking about it. My heart dropped from my chest when I read what had happened and tried to wrap my mind around it. Why would anyone do something like this? Why there? Why so close to home???? It was insane.
I drove by that same plaza this morning on accident. I had meant to take a different direction to come home from the mall, but I ended up going that way because of traffic flow. I glanced over and saw the plaza was packed with cars, people, news crews, and more. It was kind of strange to see. I saw a young boy with his mother holding flowers and going towards the Safeway store where it all occurred, and that was very touching. I know that most of the country will probably pause and reflect on what happened here today because the news will bring it up, but I remember them in many different ways all the time. Whenever I run a race around Tucson, I'm always reminded that one of those who was killed was an avid runner and participated in the same races. Whenever I go to the YMCA or to the library with my girls, we drive by the park named in memory of the little girl that was killed. And, whenever I drive by that plaza, I always remember what happened there and hope that those that are left behind are doing well.
Ugh, downer post. I promise tomorrow will be lighter. Just for today, though, I needed to get that off my chest.
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