Well, this day was one of the worst in recent memory. I am still in shock. I was at a coffee shop when it happened, in the middle of an interview for the Kitchissippi Times. I turned over my phone and saw the news that a shooter was on the loose in downtown Ottawa. Someone was shot at the war memorial, I said. She and I stared at each other for a moment in disbelief. And with that, I pulled out my camera, because our interview was over and I had to get moving. I focused, and asked her to smile, and snapped the photo. How strange it was.
I rushed home and witnessed the rest of the day unfold on television. I don’t think I can watch that awful footage of the thunderous shooting inside Parliament Hill anymore.
I am still trying to reconcile how it all happened, how it happened here, in Ottawa, but I am taking solace in the fact that our family is safe, and in the actions of Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms for the House of Commons, and our emergency responders.
At the moment Mark’s office downtown is on lockdown although news staff are coming and going. He rode his bike to work and I hope he won’t have any difficulty finding his way out of the downtown core and getting home. I’m expecting the girls from school soon. They know exactly what happened today, but I truly don’t know what I’m going to say to them.
