One year anniversary

Friday August 1st is the first anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I can't believe it's been that long already. They are rebuilding another bridge in its place and it's getting close to being done. It was supposed to be finished in December, but now it sounds like it'll be ready in September.

When it first happened, it didn't seem real. I think that's because I didn't hear about it until a few hours after it happened. Jason and the kids and I had gone out for dinner, and when we got home, there was a message from my mom, just making sure we were ok. Huh? It didn't make any sense. I called her to see what she was talking about, and she told me the 35W bridge had collapsed. It seemed so impossible and outrageous, that my first question was, "Were there people on it?" Uh, yeah, it was rush hour--6pm.

As the anniversary approaches, the local media are reporting on it and telling peoples' stories. The more I hear about it, the more I realize what a tragedy it was. It's not like I thought it was no big deal, but I think that because I have only seen the wreckage in photos, it seems less real. After it fell, there was no getting near the bridge, even if you wanted to. I’ve crossed that bridge hundreds of times, but without seeing it myself, it hasn’t fully sunk in.

But then I found this story in the local paper, the StarTribune. Check out this link. The first thing you’ll see is footage of the bridge actually falling. A nearby company’s security cameras caught the whole thing. When that footage is finished, there’s a picture of the entire bridge, with numbers on it. The numbers correspond to the names over to the right. If you click on the names, there is video of that person as they tell their story of how they survived. Or, in some cases, they talk to the spouse who has been left behind. Incredible. These people haven’t completely healed physically or mentally, and for most, it will be a long time until they do.

There's a new blog in town

I have received a special request from a very special person in my life. A girl who, just four short weeks ago, was preparing to have surgery to drain a cyst in her brain. My daughter, Catherine, has started a blog of her own, and wants me to make an announcement to you all so that she'll get a little traffic over there.

You'll find her here. Just a couple of notes about the site...the name. No idea on this one. I asked her about it, and she said that there was a bag of Fritos on the desk when she was setting up her blog. Secondly, her name. She calls herself "Kathryn" on her blog. I think she figured that as long as she was spelling it differently, she isn't really using her "real name."

So if you want to make a 9-year-old girl really happy, stop by and say "hi" to her. She has posted quite a few pictures that she's taken with an old digital camera we had laying around. I just love the narrative that goes along with the pictures. Each picture she has posted is a completely new post, so I think she already has a couple of pages, so be sure to check them all out. I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of seeing the world through her eyes.