Unspeakable Tragedy: Bridge Collapse

(photos courtesy of the Star Tribune)

In Minneapolis this morning, we are all in utter shock after the tragic collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed last night in rush hour traffic. Hundreds of thousands of passengers travel this bridge DAILY.

I had just arrived at my girlfriend's house for a little chit chat before we went to another friend's house for Bunco. Her daughter yelled down to us that a "bridge had collapsed on 35W". It was in the 90s yesterday, so both of us sort of blew her off thinking a road had probably "buckled" in the heat. We turned on the tv anyways, and then discovered the gruesome details of what had actually happened. I liken my first reaction to hearing about the bridge to that of when I first heard about the planes flying into the World Trade towers on 911. What? Where? How? Disbelief, amazement, terror. Did I know anyone who might have traveled this route home every day? It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the tv coverage to go to Bunco. I called my loved ones on the phone and made sure everyone was ok. One of my brother's hadn't heard about it yet (I called him on my cell), but when he found out which bridge it was, he told me he drives that bridge all the time during the working day as he works downtown. Gulp.

When we got to Bunco, we found out one of the women in our Bunco group had driven over the bridge at 545p........15 minutes before it's collapse. She was very shaken, needless to say.

My husband was with my younger son at his baseball game when I got ahold of him to tell him about the collapse. He is the program director for the news/talk station here in the Twin Cities, so he had to rush back to work for extended coverage of the disaster. He was actually coaching 1st base when he had to leave!

When I got home from Bunco, I just sat in front of the tv for a bit longer, finally heading to bed to watch more coverage at 1030p. By then, nothing much was happening because of the darkness. You couldn't see anything of the bridge. I turned off the tv at 11pm. My husband got home at 1230am, and then we talked for a while about our night. It took a while to finally get to sleep, as you could imagine. To much adrenaline, too much sadness.

It was at this point, as I lay in bed processing the whole event, that I finally realized that my youngest son, who arrived home from camp Monday night at 630p, passed over this very bridge two days earlier on his way home to us. He was probably on the bridge at the very same time that it collapsed last night. The bridge is only about 15 minutes from our church (in rush hour traffic). It could have been him, in an entourage of 4 huge buses, that plunged to the Mississppi in the collapse of this bridge last night. I shudder at the thought. I myself drove this bridge a few weeks ago when I went to visit my son up at camp for his 16 birthday.....it is located approximately 25 miles from where I live south of downtown Minneapolis.

It's events like these that shake us to the core. It's events like this one that cause us to dwell on the "what ifs". I'm sure I'll be processing this "what if" for days to come. It could have been me living this nightmare personally had this happened only two nights earlier.....

Right now, I am consumed with grief for the fate of so many still missing and for those precious people that lost their lives in this horrific tradgedy. I am amazed when I hear stories of individuals that SURVIVED the 64 foot fall with only a slight scratch on the nose to show for it. And thankfuly, God was looking over the fate of 50+ children on a school bus that survived the collapse with only 8 injuries, none life-threatening. I am worried that I will know someone who was not so lucky. Please pray for our rescue workers and emergency personnel as they continue in their recovery efforts for bodies today.

Needless to say, showcasing a card today seems in bad taste given the circumstances. I will post one tomorrow for you instead. For those of you interested in Muriel's recovery, it seems like when we take one step forward, we take 10 back. She developed a high fevor yesterday and was re-intubated again (remember, they just removed the breathing tube yesterday) because they fear she could become septic (?) from the infection obviously coursing through her at this time. Prayers are needed here too.

Keep us all in your prayers.