- 4/16 -

Wow, I can't believe its been four years since that horrific shooting at Virginia Tech. 

I was a couple hours up the interstate, in my second semester at JMU... 

I remember I was walking to my GenEd music class when I heard people talking about something awful at VT, I immediately sent text messages to my mom and two of my good friends that go to VT to see what was going on and if they were okay, luckily they both were. 

Right after my class ended I headed back to my dorm and was glued to the news coverage for the rest of the day.  I remember seeing the footage of the survivors being taken out of the buildings, the hundreds of police allll over the campus, and the number of how many people lost their lives keep rising.  

I was SO paranoid in the days and weeks to follow- before this happened we never locked our dorm room door (not sure why!!) but after this we never left it unlocked. I had a lot of trouble sleeping at night also, before I would get so annoyed at the people down the hall who were so loud until the wee hours of the night, after this, I was thankful to hear them, to know I wasn't the only one awake. I remember one night- it was in the 3:00 hour I got so scared and called my mom from the bathroom crying because I couldn't sleep- and every little noise in the hallway frightened me. 

Classes were also pretty difficult, I had one class in the basement of a building, with no windows and only one door...and I sat directly in front of the door. We kept the door closed but it had a little window, I would just stare out the window the whole time, making sure that nothing was going on in the hallway...

Even into my sophomore year, I was still paranoid about something like that happening at JMU... I knew EXACTLY how I would move our furniture to block our dorm room door, and where I would hide (in the compartment above my closet).

Not sure when those feeling faded away, but I guess I realized that I can't live life afraid all the time..

If it affected me that much, I can't imagine how it was for students actually at Virginia Tech...

so today, I am praying for those families who lost loved ones that day,

I will definitely neVer forgeT