because other things happen too

This post has nothing to do with anything on this blog. But this is one of the places I feel happiest, and I am in need of some happiness today. My father teaches at Virginia Tech University, as did my mother, a cousin is a senior there, and various relatives are alumni. They are all safe, but they are all horrified beyond comprehension. I grew up in a college town (not in Virignia - I grew up in Illinois and my parents have retired to Blacksburg, which is in the area where my mother grew up), and I work at a university and live in a college town now, and that precious feeling of security and good-natured insularity that such communities often have is a big part of what makes things feel like home to me - so in some ways I can sort of imagine how thrown, how torn, how shaken my...what's the word? fellow gownies? neighbors by type? whatever, colleagues in Blacksburg are. But in other ways I cannot, it is unfathomable, it is horrible, that's not how one uses commas but even I don't really mind right now. Thank you so much to all of the people who have written me to ask or to extend sympathy. I'm undecided about whether the universe takes notice of wishes and sympathies and things like that, as everyone things why why why, but I'm hopeful just in case, and I'm grateful no matter what.