What I Learned from My 3-Minute Worst-Case Scenario

I awoke from a deep sleep last night to my daughter’s voice, a freshman in college:

“Mom!”

“What is it!?”

I was instantly on full alert hearing the panic in her voice.

“Someone is shooting! We’re hiding! I don’t know what to do….I’ve got to go, we’re gonna run!”

Click.

Those next few moments were the most excruciating I’ve ever experienced — the dread every parent fears most:

My child was in imminent danger, and I was powerless to save her.

Fortunately, my story ended in safety. My daughter and her friends got out of the situation quickly. The “shooter” turned out to be a male who shot his gun into the air in anger over being denied entrance to the party.

Fortunately, the girls reacted when someone yelled, “He’s got a gun,” and didn’t wait to see if the threat was real.

And fortunately, the police showed up at their dorm a few minutes later, in bullet-proof vests, and interviewed them. (I don’t know yet if the shooter has been apprehended.)

In today’s dark and violent world it’s not often that you dodge a bullet like this one (literally). It felt like a gift, a unique and rare opportunity to learn and…