Too Close..

For Comfort.

This morning I walked into my office, and the following ensued:

Kamran: Nava, did you go to the movies last night?
Nava: Yes...
Kamran: What did you see?
Nava: Why?
Kamran: You almost died last night.
Nava: What?
Kamran: Did you know there was a bomb in the mall last night?
Nava: WHAT?

Then I get an email link to THIS story.

Last night, Aimee and Nasim and I decided to have a girl's night at Cinemall, dinner and a movie. We were there from 6:45-9:15pm, so we would have been there for the whole thing, had the bomb actually gone off…

We were in the movies when they actually found it and believe it or not, they did not sound an alarm nor make any attempt whatsoever to evacuate our section of the mall (no discernible effort anyway. Our movie kept playing; no alarm went off in the theater...). When our movie ended around 9, we were walking around and there were still plenty of people shopping—we had no idea. When we left the mall we could see theyd barred people from coming in and there were a ton of cop cars, so we knew something was up, but we had no idea what.

I know that these things are hard to understand. I can't say God protected us without feeling a bit like a jerk who might be implying that He doesn't protect the other people in the occasions when the detonator does work and the bomb does explode...But I also can't deny that I feel like He did protect us and that I am infinitely grateful for whatever mishap took place thwarting this horrifying thing from actually happening.

I've said it so much this year, but seriously, life is just so unpredictable. You just never, ever know. I was thinking, had the bomb gone off, it's true, we could have died. Or we could have been severely injured. At the very least, we would have been witness to some agonizing carnage. How would that not change your life forever? One malfunctioning detonator, determining the lives of so many.

For anyone out there who's worried about our safety here, please don't. Truly, I wouldn't trade a single day here for a day somewhere else. Besides, you could always fall and hit your head on a beginner's ski slope like Natasha Richardson and die a few days later. Or be a high school student in Germany (or Colorado, Virginia...) when your crazed classmate loses his mind and shoots you.

You just never know.

Comments

Zhena said…
holy crap - not sure you should share this info with our parents - i was nearly in tears reading it...i mean i know you are right - it could happen in any way to anyone - but still - so scary..can't believe kamran just blurted it out that way - that was funny...wow thank GOD it didn't go off as it was intended to and that you three are safe...What a sick world - people hurting innocent people -that is just beyond wrong!!!Stay safe!!! Love you!!!