A Big Healing Hug

November 9, 2023

I’m sitting in Strong Hospital’s Emergency Room’s waiting area, waiting for the ambulance to arrive from another hospital. A family member is being brought here for unexpected testing and procedures.

It’s scary and I came as quickly as I could.

As I was driving here, a text popped onto my dashboard display from one of my kids. It was brief. It said her school was in a lockdown. During lunch.

I pulled over.

I know too much.

I know what this means. It was not a drill. Lockdown drills don’t happen during lunch times.

I knew this would be impacting at least two of my three kids.

I texted her back one minute later. “Where are you?”

I didn’t hear back.

I know kids were probably instructed to turn off their phones to help everyone focus on safety protocols, support first responders.

And I know everyone takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to follow the safety procedures and help first responders do their job. This is first priority. Communicating with families is second. As it should be.

20 minutes went by. 20 minutes of panic.

20 minutes of mentally preparing myself to be at the emergency room for one family member and then having two of my children brought in as well.

It’s awful. The waiting. The not knowing. The nothing-you-can-do-to-control it. The fear.

And then it was over. A reassuring text. Then a message from the school. A mistake. It was initiated by mistake.

We practice lockdowns so everyone knows what to do. I know why we do them. I am glad we do them. And also so sad that we need protocols for this. It’s incredibly multifaceted. And I don’t have the answers. I just know the whole world needs a big, healing hug.