Way too close to home

Yesterday's terrible events at Northern Illinois University hit way too close to home. DeKalb, Illinois, home to NIU, is where my husband grew up, and where I lived for 5 years before moving to Fort Wayne. I graduated from NIU a few years ago. I had classes at Cole Hall, where the shooting occured. I can picture the exact auditorium where it happened. It still seems so unreal.

My Mother-in-law is a Business Professor at NIU, and was in the middle of teaching a class full of students while the tragedy was unfolding. She first found out about it because one of her students received a text message about the shooting. She said, at first, no one knew what to think- if it was even real. Then, realizing that the gunman could be anywhere, she immediately locked the doors to the classroom. They stayed locked in the classroom for over an hour, until a school official said it was safe to leave.

We hear about terrible events like this all too often. Not even a year ago, we were learning about the shootings at Virginia Tech. Although equally as horrible and disturbing, it's hard to relate when it happens so far away. It's a very eerie feeling when something like this happens in such a familiar place.