Yesterday we had a lock down at the school.
Now that we know it was just a threat, and everyone is safe, it "isn't a big deal".
But in the moment it WAS a big deal, and it DID take a toll on the kids and everyone involved.
So...I was early picking the kids up because first I went to the dollar store to get table cloths for the youth activity.
I was sitting in the parking lot and Avery texted, "we are in a lock down rn. I don't think it's a drill."
She was in Hoffman's class, one of our favorite teachers. But since they were meeting in the PAC, the teacher took them quickly to Mrs. Holley's room.
She said "the principal sounded serious and scared, and do you know what's going on?"
I told her she is safe and everyone is helping her be safe.
PS there was a deadly shooting at a school in Texas the day before, so we are all a little on edge. My kids didn't know anything about the Texas shooting though.
Lindsay texted me "we are in a lockdown, do you see anything outside the school?"
I got a text from the school saying "please stay away from the school, we are in a lockdown".
Since it was so close to school being let out, there were lots of parents already at the school. I obediently left the campus and parked across the street by Burger King. I ate Neccos from the dollar store.
I continued to wait for more info. Lots of Law Enforcement were heading to the school - border patrol was dispatched, police, sheriffs, ambulance, fire truck. Then a helicopter was circling the school. It circled for hours.
This is the bonus of being a border town - we have quick access to federal help. It was like the military descended upon the school. There were so many military type agents surrounding the school with their AR guns ready to protect.
It was in this hour of waiting and not knowing that I cried. I knew the kids were safe, but the unknown and the possible scenarios made me so nervous.
Finally there were some rumors and texts from Lindsay that indicated the school was secure (whatever that means? did they catch someone?), and I felt immediate relief.
Around 4:00 they began to evacuate the middle school kids to the Boys and Girls Club across the street.
A police officer went room by room and led them out of the school.
Avery texted that I could come over there.
Molly Ernst called me, frantic, letting me know "I see Avery. She's safe. Do you want to talk to her?"
etc.
But I was like, no I have been texting with her this whole time, but thank you Molly. haha
Then she told me she saw Evan as well.
I walked down to the club. I locked eyes with Mr. Minkler when I took Evan. There couldn't be a better, more calm teacher than Mr. Minkler.
I retrieved my middle schoolers and it felt so good, but we still needed Andrew.
Then the police said everyone was going to the football stadium now, so we dutifully headed over to the stadium. I assumed it would be pretty easy and I could get Andrew and leave.
My kids went with Lindsay and the Dicksons into the stadium, and us parents were told to stay outside the gates of the stadium.
From there we had to wait for all of the elementary and primary kids to get into the stadium, then they would check out the students to parents with photo id.
This protocol took forever, but we were all just patient and calm because we knew that this was fabulous and lovely that we all had strict rules to follow to keep everyone safe and orderly. I think we were just happy to do WHATEVER because the children were all safe.
But also it took a very long time. And the military presence with the giant AR guns was a bit intimidating for those little primary kids. Plus we all wanted to know what went down. At this point there are a million rumors flying and speculation and people on Facebook being know it alls.
My phone was about to die, and I knew we had at least an hour before they started releasing kids, so I went to my car and plugged in my phone and continued to text with Avery and Lindsay. I listened to the podcast about the Thai Cave Rescue. It put my situation into such perspective.
I felt so good having Lindsay inside the stadium with my kids. She let me know how things were progressing.
She said she just saw Andrew file in, almost all kids were in the stadium, so it wouldn't be long before they started releasing.
But there was a huge huge line of parents. Should I have been saving my place in line?
Ugg.
But honestly I could not handle standing in a mob of parents with all the tense vibes and weird comments everyone makes in these situations.
Then Lindsay texted, "I can sign your kids out because I am your emergency contact!"
Woo hoo! I was so happy. It shaved off HOURS of time getting my kids back since she was there as a staff on the inner chamber.
After about an hour I went back over to the stadium with my phone charged at 4%. I heard over the loud speaker: ANGUS DICKSON, BEATRICE DICKSON, CHRISTOPHER DICKSON.
then there were some other names called and I was like "oh please call my kids too", afraid she wouldn't be able to get my kids after all.
Then
AVERY LARSEN, EVAN LARSEN, ANDREW LARSEN.
yay!
I could see them all grouped together under Lindsay's wing. She took a picture of them, then I ran to my car and picked them up outside Rite Aid.
I drove all six of them home because Lindsay had to stay a while longer.
They each told about parts of their day. Evan and Christopher had heard in their hallway police shouting "get down" and stuff. So that made us assume there was an arrest right outside his room, which is scary.
Avery told me that there was a bucket they could go to the bathroom in, and Mrs. Hoffman was the first to use the bucket. Uhhh what?! So yes, a bucket with a seat on it is part of the lockdown protocol. There is also a privacy curtain involved. This is such a disturbing detail. It keeps haunting me. Maybe because it's such a necessary but overlooked detail. Us poor vulnerable humans. While hiding for our lives we still need to use the bathroom.
It was a little after 6:00 when we got home.
Jim had cooked 3 giant lasagnas for the youth activity that was cancelled.
Jim fed them lasagna while I dropped off one of the lasagnas to Jessica.
While there, I held baby Rue and asked Dane what he knows about the day from his police info.
He got his computer and read all the reports. It was a lot of stuff I didn't totally understand, but a student received a text threat early in the day. The texts continued to come and continued to be more and more specific about the time and place the person was going to come into the school with guns and kill this other person.
So it was all just threats, no active shooter or arrest, which made me feel much better.
PS Baby Rue farted/pooped three times while I held her. She knew she was in a safe space.
I went home and the kids were all doing their own things. Lindsay asked if I could go on a walk with her.
We walked and processed.
When I got home, I went to gather the kids for prayer and debriefing, but found Avery and Andrew were asleep. Their poor little bodies took a stress nap.
Evan came in and out of our room talking about different things and parts of his day. He felt better knowing there was no active weapons or anything outside his room...just the police securing the area.
Avery didn't wake up until the next morning.
Andrew woke, but then came and slept with me in my bed.
I watched the documentary on the Thai Cave Rescue.
The doctor of the rescue talked about how resilient the soccer boys were stuck in the dark cave for two weeks. He attributed how well they did to the fact that these boys had been participating in soccer their whole lives - a manufactured "hard thing". They had been trained to dig deep within themselves and be tough and strong. And since we live in a relatively easy world we have to do these things that force us to be resilient - sports, hobbies, etc - that push us into discomfort. That way we will know how to dig deep within ourselves when life gets hard.
A poignant message for the Larsens in May of 2022. We all just finished an intense few months of manufactured hard - sports sports sports.
School has been cancelled today and tomorrow, then we have a three day weekend for Memorial Day.
We all feel great about being together, fat and lazy, for a few days.
