What a Sad Day

I awoke to a message this morning from Brett letting me know that they had made it back to Bloomington without any problems.  I was happy to see that it was before midnight as I know they both had items to unload and classes to attend to on Monday.  The next message that flashed across my phone, however, was not uplifting.  It stated that a shooting had occurred on the Las Vegas Strip and over 20 people had been killed.  I was shocked beyond belief.  I watched as much of the Today show as I could before I left for school hopeful that the news was in error.  It was not.

As I had therapy tonight after school I had not checked for updates about the shooting until after 4 p.m.  By that time the death toll had risen to almost sixty and the number injured was well into the 500s.  It was described as the worst shooting in United States history.  Someone in a hotel on the strip had opened fire on a country music concert held outdoors.  The stories described were heart wrenching and the motive was far from understood.  The physical therapist working with me was distraught and could talk of nothing else.  She had tried to order tickets to the concert, but they were sold out before she could buy them.  She had friends at the concert who were snapchating her through out the four day event.  Their last text was a black screen that said, "We're safe."

As horrifying as the event in Las Vegas was I was absolutely flabbergasted by the news that Cal texted me next, "Tom Petty has died."  I had hoped that it was a FaceBook hoax like so many before. Unfortunately, that was not the case.  He had suffered a massive coronary and did not survive.  Tom Petty was a family favorite and one of the best concerts that Doug and I had ever attended.  We were just talking about him on Saturday as we were listened to the musician at the winery.  He covered one of Tom Petty's songs and Cameron knew exactly who it was.  I was proud of that fact then and happy now that we have exposed the Heinisch children to a vast array of music over the years.  I am sad, however, to think that I will never have a chance to take them to one of his concerts.  For now I'll just enjoy his music channel on Sirius Radio.