13 months later

It was a little over a year ago when my family was driving over this bridge on our way to a Twins game, to Grandma's house and more. But, a large portion of I-35 in Minneapolis simply collapsed during rush hour traffic today. Traffic there is the worse of any I've ever seen - including Houston and Dallas - I can't imagine how many people were on that bridge. I also can't imagine how snarled it is going to be until they get this bridge fixed.

Sweet Lord. The pictures are awful. To top it off, my MIL called me to tell me that no one had heard from Aunt Lefty and her husband. They live very near the bridge and work in that area. Finally, I got an email tonight that Aunt Lefty, who is a nurse, was called in to work following the accident. I'm really curious what happened to the bridge. I'm also extremely grateful this didn't happen July 2006. That would have been a buzzkill to a great vacation. I had to stifle a sob when I read that a school bus carrying a load of children just got across the bridge before the collapse. I can't imagine how those moms feel. My prayers go out to all the families in the wonderful Twin Cities area.

UPDATE: My MIL's family is pretty remarkable. The email chain was working overtime last night. Aunt Lefty emailed the siblings - there are 10 of them - as well as the extended family on the email list. Her email: Our whole family (including her daughter's boy friend) had just gone over the bridge, about 3-4 minutes, before it went down.

Wow. Talk about close calls.