Hey, guys...
I know I haven't been here in a long while, but I needed to take a timeout to deal w/ different shit. However, I'm back here because I needed to vent about what happened on Wednesday, & no matter how much I vent online (Facebook, Instagram, wherever else) & in person (at home, texting, therapy sessions), I just can't shake the anger about what happened (& what nearly occurred).
My brother & his girls moved to Parkland some months back, mainly because my brother's office in Tampa was closing down, & he opted to work from home for his company. He & his wife chose Parkland because it's supposed to be a safe area, the schools are reputable, & it's close to family. Fine. All well & good. His oldest daughter, who's fourteen, attends the middle school right next to Marjory Stoneman Douglas. On Wednesday my parents & I went to run a few errands, & when we came home, all me & my mother could focus on was the TV. Not even a week ago, my brother & his youngest daughter, who's nine, came to visit, & he was telling us about how when the other one starts high school next school year, she'll be attending MSD. As I watched the news on Wednesday, I saw the name of the affected school on the screen, & I honestly thought my heart was gonna stop. Suffice to say, my mother & I started shaking, & we had to down two fucking bottles of wine just to try & calm down. I texted my brother & sister-in-law & told them to turn to the local news, which they were already watching, & I got word that my niece was safe, & her school was on lockdown. All I keep thinking about is the fact that if it weren't for the fact that if her birthday weren't in November, she wouldn't have gotten held back a year, & she'd be attending that school this year as a freshman. The shooting, mind you, happened in the freshman building on campus. That's really fucking scary. Thankfully, she's safe, & now my brother & sister-in-law are discussing putting her in a different school next year.
I have another niece who attends high school in Miami now, & for the past three days her school has been receiving fake threats from some stupid pissant teenagers, one of whom doesn't even live in my state (he was arrested in South Carolina), who threatened a "Florida part 2". The parents of a good portion of the student population, my sister included, in her school stood in line for over an hour to pick up their kids, because they were afraid that the school was going to be placed on lockdown today. Two of my nieces are scared shitless because of this, & who can blame them?
It honestly makes me angry as hell that there are kids out there who think that shit like this is funny. Honestly, it DISGUSTS ME.
So, excuse me for venting here, but I needed to get all of this out somewhere. Thanks for reading/hearing me out.