Is there such a thing as a "small" terrorism incident?

Well, I guess I now feel even closer to Israel.

I was at work and Zachary sends me a text message on the computer "I'm OK."

Naturally, I'm alarmed and I type "What?" and he told me about the car and the gunshots and the ambulances and getting the cell phone calls from his madrichim and being locked down in Bet NATIV, etc.

Someone ran a car into a crowd of pedestrians in a busy part of Jerusalem near the Old City.

I asked him where he was getting his news and he told me he could hear it outside. I went to the HaAretz website and kept checking updates. A "small" incident as far as these things go. (what a horrid thought) ONLY 19 hurt! Soldiers, no less. Someone shot the perp.

Well, as you could imagine, I called Monica right away, then my mother. Thankfully, neither had heard about it on the news yet. The NATIV program shortly sent an email that all the students were OK and accounted for.

What a feeling! And Israelis live with this all the time?

I suppose I can't say I was scared since I knew Zachary was OK even before I knew something had happened. But I did feel, in a different way than I have felt before. I always knew I "had skin in the game." Now, my skin was very personal.

And I've got 34 more weeks of this? And I'd love to live in Israel? Am I crazy or what?

Zachary was a champ and just kept working on an essay for class. It is about some aspect of the challenges of peace between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

Go figure.