Author |
Message |
Zachsmom
Member
07-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 2:32 pm
awe..poor holly! my cousin went through that..getting all excited and then bam! not taken off!
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 2:40 pm
Right Now I'm reflecting back to 5 years ago. Today is the 5th anniversary of the Columbine massacre. The kids that lost their lives that day would be young adults now. Maybe attending college, maybe just graduating from college. Maybe starting their careers, maybe with kids of their own. Columbine HS was closed down today. The kids that go there now were in elementary and junior high school at the time of the massacre. Only a third of the staff from the school on that horrid day are still there today. Right Now I can remember that day like it was yesterday. I was at work, and heard the story unfold on the radio. Driving home later, the DJ's on the station I had on my car radio were telling parents not to worry, everyone was out of the school by now and your child was okay. Later in the evening, the small group of parents who still hadn't heard from their children were told to go home and retrieve their child's dental records.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 3:37 pm
Right now, that brings back such chills. I remember just watching the horror unfold on tv and just thinking, I can't wait until I can hold my kids and tell them that I love them.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 3:56 pm
Right Now more memories come to mind. Memories like the call to drive with your headlights on in tribute to the slain children, and having tears come to my eyes every time I encountered a fellow motorist with their headlights on. Or wondering how the kids at Columbine could possibly not be on someone's mind when I encountered someone whose lights weren't on. Right Now I remember how I had my porch light on 24/7 as another sign of tribute, and of fighting back tears every time I drove by a house with their porch light on. And posting on an old defunct message board (long before I even heard of TVCH, in fact, I don't think TVCH was around then) about porch lights and headlights. I remember crying at my computer as I read posts from people all over the country (and Canada) who proclaimed "my lights are on!" When the last child was buried, and the order to fly flags at half mast was lifted, and the time to finally turn off my porch light came....and how hard it was to finally flip that switch to the off position. Right Now I remember how one of the children was a huge Star Wars fan, even though the last episode (Return of the Jedi) was probably released before he was born. He was eagerly looking forward to the release of Star Wars: Episode I. He never lived to see it. Right Now I think I'll go turn on my porch light for the rest of the day/evening. Even if nobody else remembers, I'll know why its on.
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 4:03 pm
Right Now i just want to take a moment to also remember April 19th - 1993 with Waco and 1995 with Oklahoma City - all 3 incidents are connected as Oklahoma City was planned as payback for Waco and Columbine was scheduled to be on the 19th as well, as a symbol of the previous two events- it was a Monday, but they had to delay it til tuesday the 20th because school was delayed that day for some reason...
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 4:12 pm
Right Now I'm remembering Waco and Oklahoma City too. Right Now I'm remembering in April of 1995, I was eagerly waiting news on a job I really wanted and had interviewed for. I think I would know if I hadn't received a call by 8 am that morning, I didn't get the job. The phone never rang, and I just stayed in bed and moped for a few hours. I didn't even turn on the tv till later that afternoon, and that's when I finally saw what was happening in Oklahoma City. So, while people were getting pulled out of the rubble, and other people were dying, and other people were wondering if their friends/loved ones/co-workers had made it out alive, I was laying in bed with the covers pulled over my face feeling sorry for myself that I didn't get the job I wanted. Right Now, I'm remembering how powerful the word perspective can be sometimes.
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 4:24 pm
right now i remember being at the Board of Education in the office i worked out of during the last half of my school day when we found out about Waco around 1pm in 1993 and i remember watching all the events of oklahoma city on the tv in 1995 during the end of a 2 week stay in a hospital - and then watching all the cable news the whole day in 1999 with columbine, hoping more people would come out
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Fanny
Member
09-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 4:24 pm
Who, I've been remembering Columbine today, too. I was at work and got a frantic call from SO who'd just heard from his daughter, a junior at CHS, that she was ok. She'd been to lunch with a friend who wanted to get back to school to go study in the library, so she'd dropped him off in the parking lot and went on to continue her lunch. As near as we can figure she was leaving the parking lot just as the killers, also in the parking lot, were preparing to enter the school. The friend she'd been to lunch with was the kid who was shot in the head and was ready to jump out the library window when the police drove a vehicle over beneath the window and were able to rescue him. Such a sad, sad time. I remember driving home that afternoon and so many cars had turned on their headlights (even though it was bright daylight) in a sort of memorial. So many funerals, so many memorials. The "big" memorial the following Saturday or Sunday (can't remember which) I remember everyone gently and slowly waving bouquets of flowers above their heads in time to the music playing and it looked like a sea of flowers. Gore and his wife Tipper were there and I followed them around for a while, watching them closely and suspiciously for signs of it being a mere political visit, and being surprised to see the same grief and anguish in their eyes as was in our own. Their human reaction caused me to vote for him in the presidential election, an act which SO will never, ever let me live down. The impromptu flower tributes and memorials surrounding the school in ever-increasing circles. Seeing and touching the slain kids' cars and trucks they left parked in the school lots and knowing those kids weren't going to drive their vehicles away was heart-wrenching. And walking up Rebel Hill to touch the crosses erected for each of the kids and read the prayers and tributes written on them by their friends and classmates was so incredibly sad. I hope I never again in my lifetime experience such an intense, profound grief and sense of loss as I felt there on the school grounds. I watched a bit of the news coverage this morning and saw my house twice on national tv, lol. It's just a few blocks from Columbine and sits up on a hill overlooking the school. I don't live in it anymore (I rent it out), but that was my neighborhood and those were my people. SO's daughter is preparing for her college graduation in less than a month. I'm so sad for her that her excitement for beginning her adult life has to be tempered by remembering such an anguished time. It took years before she was able to smile a genuine, happy smile. Even today there's still a sadness to her.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 4:44 pm
Wow Fanny. Right Now I'm sending some positive vibes to SO's daughter. I've often wondered about the kids who survived. The ones who almost went to the library that day, or the ones who called in sick that day and had to hear about it on the radio/tv like the rest of us. I remember a friend of mine who visited the memorial at Clement Park. She said in an area where normally tight traffic, blaring horns and impatient drivers would be expected, everyone was so quiet, reserved, and patient as they took their turns to get to the memorial. I wonder why it takes such a tragedy to remind people that they don't have to get somewhere ahead of the other person.
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Fanny
Member
09-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:25 pm
Who, I now live nearly 30 miles from my old house and it's not just a little jaunt to get over there. But I went over there many times in the evenings after work, just to, I don't know, pay my respects. It was like I had a bungee cord attached to me on one end and Columbine (the neighborhoods surrounding the school are collectively known as Columbine) on the other. I couldn't stay away. I had the same experience as your friend. There were hundreds and thousands of people there walking slowly and reflectively through the memorials and the only sounds you heard were muffled crying. It was so quiet and solemn. And sad. Like being in church, really. SO's daughter didn't come down from Fort Collins today. I'd wondered if she was going to, to join her former classmates. I'm taking it as a sign she's moving on as best she can and looking forward to her graduation and life thereafter and not looking back. Seeing the pictures of those dead kids today, after seeing the survivor interviews shocked me. The kids interviewed were 5 years older and light years wiser than they were back then. The 13 who were killed should also be 5 years older and more mature and smack dab in the middle of stressing over college finals. But they're not.
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:28 pm
and the teacher who ran the opposite way - into the firestorm instead of out of the building
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Fanny
Member
09-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:33 pm
Oops, 12 kids and teacher Dave Sanders. Thanks, Legalboxer.
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:38 pm
Right now, I have goosebumps and tears. Columbine became such a small world. DS ahd been there a few months earlier for a hockey tourny. HIs one hearing impaired friend lived north of Denver, but ds couldnt connect the difference and just knew his friend was having problems. His friend went to a private Baptist High school (I think) and when we finally got thru his mom said they were all having bomb threats, it was a sad, terrible time. I just bought a book from a student, and I too remember the teacher, and those kids that had to sit and watch him die. I've also planted a couple of Columbine plants, and say prayers every time I tend to them...
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Fanny
Member
09-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:43 pm
It is indeed a small world, Reader. The aftermath (legacy?) also included suicides of Columbine people who weren't able to cope. 1999 was a shitty year. That was my zoloft year, lol. And on that bright and cheery note, I'm going to go get in my car, turn my headlights on and drive home.
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:45 pm
{{{hugs}}}
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 5:47 pm
Right Now I want Fanny to have a safe drive home.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 7:50 pm
right now, yes a sad date for remembering all the tragic events of aprils past... right now, my dd had 4 months extended to her braces-wearing...very disappointed each time. the worst was, he should have given her a permanent retainer from the start, but gave her the removeable one, even though she has a tough frenum (and even after a frenectomy, that tough muscle wanted to separate her front upper teeth!)...after wearing her removeable retainer for 23+ hours a day, dd ended up BACK IN braces for 4 months less than a year after she got her first braces off... and i had to pay another 500 bucks. after that, she got a permanent retainer, which will stay til she's about 18 or 19. she has had it for 2 years already. it's 'cemented' behind her upper front teeth. right now, i am going to eat dinner and get ready for american idol.
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Deesandy
Member
08-12-2003
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 8:11 pm
Not to take away from Columbine, which I have been thinking about all day also... Right now I wish I could speak to my mom. She had sent me this email earlier and I just read it. She is out with my aunt right now... The email: Sandy, If you see the news today, the truck driver killed in Iraq is my cousins brother in law. Aunt Mary had emailed me about it today and then when I was watching the news at 5 I saw them interview my cousin Kurt Nathan. Love, Mom
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Egbok
Member
07-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 8:27 pm
Right now I'd like Fanny to know how much I appreciated having her sincere and heartfelt posts to read about Columbine. It was as if you let me walk in your shoes and experience the feelings you were experiencing back then. I haven't watched any TV yet and I don't think I want to watch the interviews or anything about that tragic event. It's just too much sadness for me to bear right now. I never thought I'd use this phrase because it's just not my style, but to be honest this is how I am feeling right now....life sucks and it's more that I am able to handle right now. Okay, rant over...sorry I hijacked the thread and made it all about me.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 9:21 pm
Right Now, {{{hugs}}} to Tabby and DD. Such a bummer about the braces. Hopefully the next few months will finally resolve those issues. Right Now, more {{{hugs}}} to Deesandy, Mom, Cousin and brother-in-law. How terrible. I'm so sorry to hear this. Right Now, I'm also sending {{{{Eggie}}}} hugs. I don't see how one heartfelt post can make a thread hijacked and all about one person.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:44 pm
right now, i am wiped out! i'm going to sip some cabernet and read for a little while. i have tomorrow off, then i work thursday, and am off friday before working 4 or 5 days straight. after that, dd and i are meeting landi in petaluma for our hal ketchum outing. such fun!!! right now, ds called to tell me he got an 85% on his chemistry midterm. yippee! keep your eyes crossed he did okay on his biology midterm, too! right now, big hugs to eggie! "i feel sad when you're sad, i feel...." well, since it WAS manilow night 
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:48 pm
<crosses eyes for Tabby and ds....>

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Lancecrossfire
Moderator
07-13-2000
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:55 pm
I would like to thank all those who have said something about Columbine, OK and Waco. Your thoughts, feelings and experiences touched myself and a number of others. And a special thanks to Who for starting it off--this was needed.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 11:41 pm
Right now I'm totally ashamed of my behavior an hour ago. At 1am I was so fed up with the noise from downstairs. Not loud enough to call the police, but the TV was loud enough in their living room that we heard it in our bedroom, with 2 fans and fiance's CPAP running. I could just feel the rumble. So I went into the living room, pulled over a dining room chair for support, and jumped as hard as I could about 10 times. Then I calmly went into the bedroom and put on some shorts as I knew what was going to happen. The wonderful superb man from downstairs [ok I'm lying but I'm trying to keep it mod-approved] came up and to put it nicely there was a screaming match. Thankfully my fiance didn't realize what was happening until I was almost done, and I got the door shut and locked before he got there. So much for just trying to hang on for 4 more months because the guy's a drug dealer and I didn't want to stir things up. *sigh* right now it all seems so trivial compared to OK, Columbine, and Waco.
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - 5:01 am
Right now I'm telling Serate to call the police next time the music is too loud. Right now I'm sending hugs to everybody!
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