Went to the library sale today in Omaha and got to meet up with Kookiejar again. It was fun, but a bit tempered because of the Omaha Mall killings. The branch where the sale is held is just a few blocks from the mall. I don’t usually go there because it’s about 35 minutes from my house, and there’s a closer one in Council Bluffs; but I probably would have been there today if it hadn’t been for the shootings. Earlier in the week I had planned to go to that particular mall today to look for an outfit for my husband’s company Christmas party. If the shooter had gone there today instead of Wednesday. . . well, I don’t want to think about that.

I don’t know if any of you read my post last September about the Fall library sale, but Kookiejar and I went to Panera to have lunch when we were done book shopping. That day we were going to take a shortcut through Von Maur (the store where the shootings occurred) to get to Panera (we didn’t, though, because they were closed due to electrical problems). That could have happened again today. It could have been one of us. It could have been someone we know. It’s scary to think about.

While I don’t usually get too frightened saying, “What if. . . “, incidents like these really make one reflect and realize how precious life is, and how we should make the best use of it with the time we’re given.