Home Safe and Sound

Hannah went on a school trip with the history club last week. You may recall that she made a similar trip last year. Anyway, she left our town on Saturday morning at oh-dark-thirty and headed south to tour some Civil War battlefields and museums as well as Washington, DC. She was in Virginia last Monday. Did you hear me? Virginia. On Monday, April 16th.

Now, I had an itinerary and a vague idea of where she would be each day. But I’m not real big on geography and certainly not the geography of the Commonwealth of Virginia. So when the news broke about the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech I kind of panicked a little bit. I grabbed her itinerary and saw that she was visiting the Museum of the Confederate Soldier. I had no idea where that was. At that moment, as far as I was concerned, it could have been on the campus of Virginia Tech. I may have freaked out a little bit while Dale and I googled to find the location of Virginia Tech and then checked a map to find Blacksburg in relation to Richmond. When I saw they were miles and miles away from each other I was able to speak again. But for those few moments I was a wee bit frantic. If you asked Dale about it, he’d tell you I was absolutely fine. Calm might be a word he would use to describe my behavior. And yet inside I was freaking out. Call it not-wanting-to-jinx-things or denial-it-ain’t-just-a-river-in-Egypt but outwardly I acted like Hannah being on this trip (and then being in Virgina on April 16th!!) was no big deal.

Inside, though, part of me was holding my breath until this moment.

hannah_bus.jpg

Home. Safe and Sound. Thank you, God.

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This Post Has 54 Comments

  1. And this is why mothers’ hearts are so much stronger than most people’s – they get much more of a workout on a daily basis. I feel ya.

  2. I’m sending my eldest to sleep away camp for the first time this year. He’s ready, it’s time … and I know I won’t completely relax until he’s home.

    Glad Hannah made it back safe and sound. Did she enjoy the trip?

  4. I’m so glad Hannah is home safe and sound. I love that my children have been able to travel now and then, but I don’t think I ever truly rest until they are home.

  5. Anytime something horrible like that happens, you just want to hug your kids and check on them just to make sure they are alright, even miles and miles away from the tragedy. Your response was perfectly normal.

  7. Moments like that let you know you’re alive. Of course you were grateful for her return! Life can be so unsettling at times.

  8. I’m so glad she’s home safe and sound!

    I’ve lost count of how many folks have thoughtlessly asked, gee aren’t you worried about Chris off in his dorm about now? Scary times indeed but then it’s our job to teach them independence and let go when the time comes however difficult it may be.

    Hopefully there won’t be anymore such scary times while she’s travelling away!

  9. I’m glad to see that Hannah is home safe and sound. I bet she had a great time. It must have felt great to let that breath out and feel all the muscles relax at the sight of her. I am sending my daughter off to college in August. I can feel the muscles tense just thinking of it.

  10. We always hold our breath just a wee bit when they’re away…and it never stops, even when they have, for all intents and purposes, left the nest.

    And we heave a big sigh of relief when we know they’re safe.

  11. Safe homecomings are a big relief. Sent my 17 yo daughter off to England with her HS English Department over vacation. Was nervous initially esp knowing we’d also be away from home and not privy to the reassuring e-mails the chaperones were sending at the end of each day. Your experience was way scarier. Glad Hannah is home and you can breathe easier.

  12. Oh yeah, the strong hearts of mothers and their great lung capacity — all the better to withstand the rollercoaster ride our kids take us on. Glad she’s back safe & sound. ; )

  15. Thank goodness.In today’s world, I think that there is a part of me that holds my breath everytime Kathryn leaves my sight.

  16. Being a mother never gets any easier, does it? It seems that as kids move from one stage to the next, it just brings a whole new set of fears and worries. I’m so glad Hannah made it home safely, and I hope she had a great trip.

  17. I wish you woulda emailed – them’s are my old stamping grounds and I could have assured you very quickly she was nowhere near VT. I am, however, very grateful as well that she is home safely.

  18. Oh, that has got to be every parent’s nightmare–your kid anywhere within a 300-mile radius of a tragedy like that. I’m so glad everything’s OK.

  19. My mom always said the scariest moment is when your kid leaves the driveway in a car they’re driving theirself for the first time. I don’t know how I’m going to survive five children driving and going on trips and leaving for college.

  21. Being a mom is not for sissies. The worries we put ourselves through! I wasn’t really dealing with the VA Tech tragedy (too much in my life right now) but then my daughter called to tell me her roommate’s cousin is one of the victims at Virginia Tech. And it hits home again how easily any of us mothers could lose a child. Which is why we worry.

  23. It’s so hard being a mom, isn’t it? I still get a sick feeling every time I hear an ambulance siren if Samm’s not home. Totally irrational, I know. I don’t think it ever changes. I’m glad Hannah is home safe and sound; I’m sure she had a great time.

  24. I’m glad she’s home…safe! The tragedy here IS horrible, I live about 25 miles from Blacksburg and have many friends & family work or are students there. It’s a horrible sick feeling when your kids are so close to something like that!!!

  26. I think I might hold my breath the entire time they are away. I don’t blame you for having the inner freak out — I’d have been in mom overdrive as well! Glad to know you handled it so gracefully, gives me a rold model :o)

  27. So happy to hear that Hannah is home safe and sound. No matter how much you prepare, you’re never quite ready to have your children away from home without you.

  28. so glad she’s home safe and sound – I would have done the same inside-terror calm-outside stuff. I don’t know if that part ever goes away.

  32. YIKES. What Ruth said. (Miss B will be at that very same sleep-away camp, where, should she and her friend’s brother catch sight of one another, they will pretend it never happened.)

  35. There’s not a single mother out here that doesn’t understand EXACTLY what you mean. Glad you’ve got your girl home.

  36. ((((hugs))))
    (I wish ALL the mom’s of the victims could be as lucky as you and I are….our kids are safe! It’s been a truly rough week here in SW VA.)

  37. Glad Hannah’s home safe and sound. I am not looking forward to my kids going on overnight or longer trips. Right now, they’re still too young, but they grow up so fast!

  43. I’m sure you weren’t the only parent that freeked out momentarily. Sounds like you’re just a good parent. 🙂 Glad she got some safe and sound.

  44. Glad she’s home and safe! I would’ve done just as you had. Last night dh got up to pee and said ‘ds isn’t in his bed’. Panic? Yup. Halfway down the stairs and he says ‘he’s asleep on the couch’. First sleepwalking episode…whew!

  48. Oh, hon, I know exactly how you must have felt! I can project calmness in most crises but be falling apart inside. So glad your grrl was safe.

  50. I hope and pray that you never have to experience a moment like that ever again! WOW! I’m thrilled to hear that everyone is back home safe and sound.

    I think the entire Virginia Tech experience taught me to live every moment to the fullest because you just never know.

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