Remember When We Couldn't Go To Dinner At That Restaurant Because Someone Was SHOT In The Parking Lot?

The First Thursday of every month, I pull together a group of my BFF's and we head out to a different restaurant to nosh on fabulous food and dish about the friends who couldn't make it.

Wait.

That last thing NEVER happens.

But I bet you'll make sure you come next time, now won't you?

Anyway. About an hour before we were supposed to meet, my friend Barb called and asked me if I was watching the news. First of all, Barb, obviously, you did not read this post or you would know that I NEVER watch the news and keep up with all the happenings in the world merely by reading People magazine. Because if it's not in People magazine, it's not news. Obviously.

In this case, it might have been a mistake to not watch the news because she was calling to tell me there has been a shooting in the parking lot of the shopping center and they were advising people to STAY AWAY from the area.

A shooting. In the parking lot. In the middle of the afternoon. In broad daylight. With people walking in and out of the shopping center. If it had happened a couple of hours later, we could easily have been walking into the restaurant and witnessed what eventually turned out to be, unfortunately, a murder.

I still can't get over the fact that this happened in my town, just a few miles away from where I live, in a place I go to all the time. Not some big, dangerous city. My town.

It always happens somewhere else to someone else, doesn't it?

Only.

Apparently, it doesn't.