Grateful to have made it home
This post has absolutely nothing to do with running. I just need a place to process everything that happened yesterday. Feel free to skip this post. Or if you need the background of what happened, it's all over the Washington Post homepage.
When I get the email alert from the Metro yesterday saying there was a train malfunction at Tenleytown (the opposite side of the red line from me), I wasn't too worried and just figured my train would be a little more crowded than normal because of the minor delay.
When I got to the station that's pretty much what I found, but I was able to jam myself onto a car waiting on the platform. Standing room only, which almost never happens to me because I leave work before the major bulk of rush hour starts.
For the rest of the trip it just seemed like a normal Metro ride. I was four stops from home when a woman got on a train car and said she had come from the car in front of us that didn't have AC. Everyone felt bad for the people in that car, including the Metro employee who was riding on our train with his very loud walkie talkie.
We headed part of the walk to the next stop before we stopped suddenly on the track. This happens a lot. It's usually just to let another train pass or let a train leave the platform in front of us. But then the walkie talkie starts talking and we hear "code black" or something similarly ominous and the employee is like "Oh man, that's a collision." The car collectively groaned knowing we'd have to wait longer, but no one panicked because the Metro employee was being pretty chill.
Then we hear from the walkie talkie "All available Metro personnel are needed to report to Fort Totten immediately" Our Metro employee quickly runs through the emergency doors connecting cars and that's when we know it's going to be a long time sitting on the train. At least our car had air conditioning.
Our conductor came on and said there had been a collision and we were instructed to hold until further notice.
This is where I will sound like a horrible person. Someone on my train apparently had an asthma attack about 10 minutes after we'd been waiting on the tracks. So the announcer said we'd be pulling in to the next station where we could all get off. I had never felt so grateful for someone having an asthma attack. (I truly hope it wasn't serious and that person is OK)
So I'm stuck at Catholic University which doesn't run buses back to where I live. So I hopped on a bus to the next metro station up with my new found friend who lives in the apartment building next to mine. While we're on the train, I'm calling my roommate and the BF to look up bus schedules and lines and see what will get me close to home. Turns out I would have needed to take like three different buses from where I was.
I called a friend who I knew would be off and he graciously offered to pick me and my new friend up at the next Metro station. He's a saint and I treated him to dinner to thank him.
It took us over an hour to drive back to my house. We drove right past the scene of the crash. It look horrible. I have never seen that many emergency personnel in one place. And cop cars, fire trucks and ambulances continued to pass us the whole way back home. Unbelievable.
I'm glad to be home safe and sound. I'm thankful that I have such great friends who called and texted to make sure I was OK. And I'm really glad I had two great friends who both offered to give me a ride home from where I was stranded.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones yesterday and those who were injured in the crash.
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17 comments
I heard about this yesterday, how awful. Glad you were able to get home safely.
ReplyDeleteyea, glad you are ok. It's sad that these things happen....
ReplyDeleteI heard about the crash...I can't believe it. I'm glad you made it home okay.
ReplyDeleteI read about the crash last night! Very scary.
ReplyDeleteWow... very happy you made it home OK, Jess.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you made it home safe and sound. So scary.
ReplyDeletewow that just sounds so scary. so glad you are safe and ok.
ReplyDeleteSO scary! I saw that on the news, it's so sad. I can't imagine how you must feel since you ride the Metro daily! I hope everyones OK and I'm glad you made it home safely!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're safe and at home, sister; I knew nothing about this.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you made it home safely - it sounds absolutely horrific and scary to think that we all used to embark at Fort Totten at UMD.
ReplyDeleteSO happy to hear you got home safely
ReplyDeletegoosebumps...
ReplyDeleteSOOOO glad you made it home safely. i thought about you when i heard the news!
glad you are okay. that is a scary situation. do they know why the collision occurred?!? seems so odd
ReplyDeleteglad you were able to make it home okay. thank goodness for amazing friends!
ReplyDeleteWhat a scary/terrible situation. Glad you're safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteWow...that is quite the story. I'm glad that you are safe.
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it home safely.
ReplyDelete