Article Contributed on: 4/20/2007 2:18:47 PM
I put on an orange T-shirt today. Why? To honor and remember the victims of Virginia Tech's shooting rampage this week.
How could I know I would spend most of my morning on and off the phone with my son,
Austin Koehn, a freshman at Ponderosa High School, worrying about a bomb scare in our own little town.
He called me first on my cell phone a little after 9:30 am. I couldn't get to it in time because I was giving my youngest a tubby. He called again. I remember picking up the home phone with annoyance because I was busy.
Austin told me that the school had been evacuated, but that he was safe. He was at P.E. outside when it happened. Immediately, my first thought was,
Maybe it is just a drill. He said it was no drill, but that he would call me and tell me everything he knew. He was very worried about his backpack, which was left in the school. You see, he has a new IPod, and I told him when he got it that if he lost it, he'd be in trouble.
As I told him to stay down and stay safe, my eyes filled with tears. I told him I loved him and hung up, hoping for the best. You see we had the talk about bad men with guns back on September 11th. He was absolutely calm. He said he was helping his friends stay calm. He said some of the girls were crying. I wanted to drive over and get him, and as many kids as I could fit in the minivan, but I forced myself to stay put and wait for news.
Hungry for information, I scoured the internet, and turned on the news to find out what exactly was happening at the school. I found nothing. My only source for information was
Tabitha Dial at YourHub.com. I emailed her immediately and she got back to me quickly with a rough news item.
I spoke with my son several times in the next hour or so. Each time he called, he reassured me in a calm voice that they were moving the kids further from the school into the lacrosse field. When he told me that a bomb squad was on the scene and that a helicopter was circling, I started to cry again.
He said, "Don't worry Mama. I'm with my friends."
Each time I heard his voice, I feared it would be the last. And I am not one to worry so much about my children. Don't we send them to school with the hope that they will be safe and sound? Don't we live in a safe community? Don't these kinds of things happen to other families in other places?
I asked him if he wanted to start walking, as I planned to pick him up on the highway if I had to. I have never been so powerless in all my life, but he told me he would ride the bus with his friends because coming to the school to get him would be a hassle. Reluctantly, I agreed with him.
I waited almost another hour for my son to walk up the driveway. When I hugged him, I realized that in this world, our children are never truly safe. Can I keep him from the world? No. I can only hope that the terror and violence in the world keep away from him.
I just read that the incident may have been a "prank." Doesn't feel so funny right now, and I'll bet a lot of parents will agree with me.