Sometimes it's better not to know exactly where all your family members are at any given moment. Taking long drives, working with heavy equipment, air travel, medical procedures -- it's enough to make you a bit stressed. I know my folks still worry at least a bit when I travel and like to know that I arrived without incident.
Of course, we take for granted that air travel or visiting a major tourist attraction like the nation's capital is, for the most part, safe. Most people don't pay attention to the pre-flight emergency procedure explanation, and we casually go through metal detectors in buildings. And, as an experienced traveler, I don't think much when people I know travel. Such was the case when my dad said he and my stepmom were headed to Washington, D.C., for a series of meetings. My dad is involved with the political affairs arm of the Realtors in Arizona, and last week his colleagues and he were to meet and then lobby their members of Congress.
So I spoke with my dad today and he casually related a story I am sure he has told a couple dozen times by now. It's the kind of travel story that makes a note and leaves a mark on your memory. He explained how he had just finished visiting his congressman, Rep. Trent Franks, a Glendale Republican, when he reached the basement area to catch the small train transport from the office building. The alarm sounded, he said, and then he and his group took an elevator back up and were told to run south as fast as they could. Dad also said that he saw a bunch of black SUVs and limousines racing from the campus, what he later learned was the evacuation of the congressional leadership.
For me, even a few days after the event, which my dad clearly survived unharmed, it was a bit unsettling. I mean, I don't usually know anyone who has a brush with what authorities believe is a terrorist act. I'm glad my dad was safe, along with everyone else of course, but it sure brings things a lot closer when you think that someone you know and love had a brush with a real scare.
Perhaps next time I'll be more attentive to when travel plans and the news intersect.
-- Wenatchee, Wash.
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2 comments:
I love rubber bands and pineneedles.
When I lived in Europe there were many terrorist bombings at local GI hang-outs like clubs and bars and restaurants. My friends and I would be escorted to school by men with machine guns, no one could travel alone, and our school received numerous bomb threats.
For the most part we laughed at the interruptions to the school day and enjoyed the free time to stand in the parking lot across the street and visit. However, that changed one day when the inspectors actually found a bomb and detonated it out in the farmer's field behind the school. It was pretty frightening to tell the truth.
While I do think we, as a nation, can be overly cautious at times, I do appreciate the awareness.
P.S. Soon after this the U.S. bombed Libya (eliminating my Boy Scout camping trip in Italy--argh), but the local terrorist bombings ceased.
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