then I've had my trio for the week.
On Monday afternoon, upon scanning the news headlines after lunch I was astonished to see report of a student in Chardon (about 30 miles away from my hometown) opening fire on his fellow students in a high school cafeteria. In total, there are five victims, 3 dead, 1 just released from the hospital, and another still in serious condition. The student who fired the shots is being held in a juvenile facility, but will likely be tried as an adult, on at least 3 counts of murder (depending on the outcome of the 4th victim).
Although I was shocked and saddened by Columbine and Virginia Tech, it never really hits home until it literally hits home. As the aunt of four nieces and three nephews, two of which attend school probably less than 30 miles from Chardon, and the oldest of which will start high school in the fall, I can't help but fear for their safety every day. The world is a scary place to grow up in these days, and I'm just glad we only had to put up with the occasional bomb scare (like the time where it turned out some of the outdated chemicals in the chem lab were more volatile than the bomb that was never found). My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of both the victims and the shooter.
One final thought - earlier that same day a co-worker and I were having a conversation about how easy it is to buy guns in Ohio, as opposed to Maryland, where it can take up to a couple months. Maybe Ohio ought to toughen up on their laws a bit more. It should be made as difficult to buy a weapon as it is getting a mortgage for a house, and there should be as much paperwork involved too.
On Tuesday my husband called in sick to work after suffering a mild bout of food poisoning. Okay, so that's not anywhere near as dramatic as Monday's events, but it still counts when it disrupts your life and its routines. He's back at work today, but still feeling a bit rough. I also have a coworker still out sick with some sort of a stomach bug too.
Like on Monday after lunch, I was scanning the news headlines while checking my e-mail and saw a news flash that my favorite Monkee, Davy Jones, who was just 66 (which I realize makes him old enough to be my father), died of a heart attack this morning. Not only had I seen him on the short-lived Monkees TV program, I remember the time he made a guest appearance on "The Brady Bunch." I bet Maureen McCormick is probably more distraught by this news than I am. I also recall a couple guest appearances on "My Two Dads" back in the 80's where he played a friend of Joey (one of the dads). I remember him still looking pretty hot while wearing some sort of a gladiator uniform for one of his concerts. I guess there's no hope for a Monkees reunion now (not that there ever was since Mike Nesmith has completely disassociated himself with the other three after his mother invented White Out of Liquid Paper or whatever).
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