The frantic tone of my sweetie’s voice on the phone before I got out of bed this morning first made me think something traumatic had happened to his son. He blurted out about the London train bombings in a much similar fashion to that of my mother on the morning of 9/11.

And I felt similarly beside myself, the adrenaline kicking me into action mode, to which I courageously plopped on my ass in front of the telly to listen repeatedly to the same six or so facts the media knows at that point. After the effects of the shock wore off and feeling my dander raise after hearing Bush’s comments regarding the bombings, I realized that there was nothing left to do but head into work.

And I know how pale I must have looked all morning while waiting to hear if my sweetie's family and friends and family were accounted for (I'd say "if they were ok", but I doubt anyone over there is "ok" right now). I spent my day tunnel-focused on my work, while occasionally checking the Internet for information as it unfolded. And it so happens that his mom (or mum) is fine, and that his dad and sister were on a plane flying into London at the time, so they’re fine too. All manner of relatives had been spoken to or heard from. My sweetie found out just before we were to meet for lunch, so we didn’t just have to sit there and hold each other anxiety stricken.

So here I am at the end of the day, I still can’t wrap my mind around my family being near such a devastating situation, especially if it was halfway around the world. The timing of the whole thing is just incredible. Part of me feels happy that his parents are there instead of here. Not that I would want them anywhere in the proximity of harm's way, but they seem to be better able to handle things on-the-spot. I’m sure if they hadn’t already been in London, that they’d book flights after learning the news. They would just need to be there.




My sweetie grabbed an image of the Union Jack to put his desktop at work. I’ve grabbed this image off the web to put on my desktop at home until next Thursday.