Re: minneapolis bridge collapse--Keith Taylor and others OK??
Christine, Thanks for your thoughts and wishes. I was driving through Iowa to take part in a workshop at UNI when I heard the news... (Actually, I heard about the bridge collapse from my 84 year-old mother who lives in Florida! Isn't technology wacky?) I and my family and friends are all fine. Keith, I hope that you have heard from your friend and that all is well. It's sort of a surreal. That bridge is the north-south artery leading to the busiest intersection in Minnesota (and probably one of the dozen busiest from Chicago to Denver and St. Louis to Winnipeg.) I use it all the time. I used to commute to work that way. Still use it countless times in a week. (Or... did...) My brother in-law commutes out that way every day. Well, used to.... Stopping to eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich may have been the five minutes that kept him stuck in traffic a short way from the bridge. But this is Minnesota -- not Baghdad. Bridges don't often suddenly disappear. Evening commute, radio blaring, phone ringing - who ever thinks about the bridge? The view, sure. Great view if downtown. Good place to check the progress of fall foliage or watch the ice flowing downstream. Congestion, sure. (We have two seasons here -- winter and road repair.) If you're thinking about the bridge, it's because they've closed a lane and traffic was already bad.... That night, sitting in my hotel room in central Iowa, CNN showing repeating video clips that barely exclude my home.... I found myself searching the crowd for familiar faces. (My son was headed over that way -- I spoke to him about half an hour before the collapse. But he doesn't drive, so I wasn't too worried.) Still, there must be some gene missing in young adult men -- the one that tells us when we should phone home and say that all is well.... I got home late Friday night and went over to the site on Sunday morning. (As of Sunday noon you still couldn't get within half a mile of the scene. Just the smallest of glimpses through the trees. You'd think it was harder to hide something as big as a bridge. By far the best views were found on TV. Odd feeling today. Everyone has a story of where they were, how often they use the bridge, a cousin or favorite aunt or best friend who was on their way home/going to the movie/meeting a friend for drinks/on their way to the store and were heading that direction/ usually go that way/just used the bridge! We'll have some pictures, as the weeks progress. Barry Christina Z. Anderson wrote: Keith, Barry, and all other Mpls residents on this list,
|