Thanks everyone for your kind words.
I’ve gone from feeling like someone hat slid a knife into my belly to just feeling… numb, I guess. I woke up yesterday morning sobbing—actually woke myself up crying. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. Big strong man brought to tears.
I knew Larry Levine professionally. He cared a great deal about his students’ success and as a writing tutor he often sent his students to see me. Maybe being a middle-aged college student myself made others feel better, I don’t know. What I do know is that he cared. He cared a lot about his students, his job, his school, and his community. And now he’s gone.
Amber, who survived the shooting, albeit barely… I dunno what to say. She was a friend. We worked together taking care of the elderly. We were both strong-willed and opinionated, so we fought a lot, laughed a lot, told each other stupid jokes, called each other names, and had each other’s back. I helped her and her husband move into a new apartment, my wife and I invited them to the ballet, we went to dinner together and we attended a mutual friends’ wedding together (I’m second from left, she’s second from right, next to her husband. She had just found out she was pregnant with her first child. She was so, so happy the day that pic was taken.) We were friends in every sense of the word, I think as close as a man and woman can be and remain platonic. She spent her whole life caring for other people. She made the student newspaper last year for, naturally, helping other people.
She was shot 8 times. She was shot in the abdomen, her left shoulder, and her right elbow. Her right arm still exists, but a majority of the structure will forever be titanium. Similarly with her left shoulder.
It’s a good thing humans can live without a spleen, as a bullet effectively rendered hers useless.
As of last night she was, hopefully, downstream of her surgeries and while still in a medically-induced coma was no longer on a ventilator and is expected to live assuming nothing unforeseen occurs.
Her two kids, 7 and 5, don’t yet know that their mommy is sick. I can’t even imagine that conversation. Her husband remains by her side, ignoring all requests from reporters and pretty much everyone else he doesn’t know on a first-name basis.
At this point I don’t know what to do. I live in Portland now, where I’m finishing school. I offered her husband use of my apartment, car, and anything else he needs. There’s nothing else I can do, to describe myself as “helpless” would be an understatement. I’ll sit, wait, watch, and pray that my friend recovers.
