35W Bridge Collapse: We're OK

We are safe. I feel a bit like a person who missed a plane that eventually crashed, though.

Bea and I were at a friend's house right near the bridge. We left for home a few minutes before the bridge came down. Going on 35W would have been the obvious way to go home (since we live off of 35W), but Bea starts to cry when the car stops and I knew there was construction traffic -- so I decided to go a longer way where we wouldn't sit still on the road as much. We literally would have gotten on the onramp that came down at about 6:00 p.m., the bridge came down at 6:05. It's horrifying, really. I keep thinking how would I have got Bea out of the car if we had been in the water or on one of those slopey sections of the road.

Matt was safely far out of the area. He and his engineering friends are not sure how a bridge could come down like that... the construction they were doing on it was minimal, etc.

Bea and I certainly have angels looking out for us this year. Thanks to everyone who is calling to check if we're ok.

- Melissa