LITB Brittney

Last Friday went something like this for me…

Alarm clock rang at 7:15 am…Hit Snooze…Snoozed again…and again…and again.
Finally got up 7:40 am…Brushed my teeth, got dressed and the rest of the ritual…
Out the door at 8 am.
Dermatologist appointment in Dunwoody at 8:30 am
“Face looks fine,” he said, “The fading cream is working on your face. The sun spots have faded.” Yay!
Left Doctor’s office 9:01 am.
Planned to take 400 South…Signs on 285 read MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS (30 minutes plus) on 400
Crap!
Already running late! Annoyed and stressed because of work deadline.
Kept driving out of my way back to 75 to head downtown…Made it door to door 15 minutes. Not too bad.
Logged onto my computer 9:20 am…Talked to my office mate Lula about our weekend plans.
She was going to Gainesville, FL…I was excited to welcome another nephew to the family and had plans to go to the Braves game Friday night and the Coca Cola film series at the Fox to see Bridesmaids Saturday night.
9:30 am heated up my oatmeal and ate my Greek yogurt for breakfast…MMMmmm.
Started working…A.D.D. kicked in.
Checked the news, Casey Anthony to be released on Sunday…Got away with murder- ugh!
Plugged my headphones into the computer…Started listening to Pandora while I was working.
10:30 am- talked to Lula again…11 am- took a phone call to answer questions about our review.
Then somewhere between 11:50 and 12:05 IT happened.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Pulled my Left headphone out, turned around and asked Lula, “Did you hear that?”
She said, “maybe, what was that?”
“I don’t know, sounded like gunshots.”
“Hmm, who knows.”
“Yea, maybe it was construction.”
12:06 pm I looked around outside my window…Didn’t see anything.
Kept working.
12:07 pm- hear noise in the conference room next door…Blinds going up. People talking loudly in the hall.
Lady comes in from picking up sandwich across the street and says, “some girl just got shot!”
OH MY GOSH!
Chills
I feel sick.
I just heard that.
I look straight below my window.
Chaos.
Sirens.
So many people.
Cops.
Ambulances.
Fire trucks.
Flashing lights.
Stretchers.
I look at Lula and say, “Who could do such a thing. I feel so terrible.”
That could have been me. That could have been her.
I hope everyone is alright.
It’s broad daylight.
Just when you feel safe you’re reminded you’re not.
That poor girl.
Maybe it was his girlfriend and he was mad at her?
Maybe she got robbed by a stranger?
What is the world coming to!!!?
Emotions flood… Shaken up…Angry…Sad…Confused…Unable to concentrate
Gunman still out on the loose.
I call Trey, nerves still rattled and sick to my stomach…Can’t eat lunch.
Ask him if he heard the news…Nope… I tell him what happened…He’s glad I’m ok.
Me too. We had gotten in a stupid argument the night before and I couldn’t imagine that being the last thing he remembered of me.
Grateful to be alive. Grateful for him.
Praying for the victims…Tried to keep working…Mission impossible…Hours pass.
4 pm email comes from Trey. “Babe, I know who died. I can’t say now because other people at work don’t know yet.”
OH MY GOSH- it’s someone we know…Terrified…Called Trey…No answer…Called Trey again…No answer…Texted Trey…No answer…FREAKING OUT...
Where is he? What happened? Who died? So scared for the answer.
30 minutes pass
Trey calls me.
It was Brittney Watts.
SILENCE
Tears well in my eyes.
What?!
I thought they were in still in Tampa.
No, “they moved back a few weeks ago.”
“Just bought a home in Decatur.”
Poor Brian.
I can’t imagine the pain.
Feeling sick again.
Somber moment then we hang up and say we’ll see each other soon.
Tears start flooding.
How could he kill Brittney?
She was so sweet.
Never spoke ill of anyone and was so young and full of life.
Couldn’t work anymore.
Went home grateful for my life and those I love and felt sorrow for losing Brittney and the destruction the loss would cause her family and friends.
Hugged Trey when he got home and realized I have so much to be grateful for.

Perhaps an odd way to recount the horrors of that day, but there are no good words to describe the feelings and emotions that hit when I learned the news that the gunshots I heard had taken the life of one of my sorority sisters and the wife of one of Trey’s friends at work. She had so much to live for and reading her blog only left more feelings of pain to know how excited she had been to come home to Atlanta.
I was not a close friend of Brittney. She was a year below me in school but I knew her and I knew she was a great person. We had shared time together at many events in school through our sorority functions. She could light up a room with her infectious smile and the world was a better place with her in it. I have never had a tragedy bother me as much as Brittney’s death. Perhaps it is because I heard the shots and it all just hit too close to home for comfort. But I believe it’s because I knew her to be a good person who deserved a long and happy life with her loving husband who I can only imagine is lost without her.
I know Brittney is in heaven now at peace but it’s devastating to think of how one senseless act by an evil person could cause pain to so many lives.
I pray for her mother who has to do what no parent should in burying her daughter. I pray for her husband, Brian who lost his best friend and will need love and support to get through this. I pray for all who loved and knew her the best. She had a special bond with her closest friends and I always thought so highly of all of those girls. I feel for them and the pain I know they are feeling. I know that their facebook posts can only give a sliver of their true emotions in this dark time.
There really are no words to describe pain in this loss but I know she is in heaven, and that nothing can touch her anymore. I am comforted by that thought and I pray that those who loved her the most can find comfort, strength and peace in that thought as well.
I don’t write this post today to invoke sympathy from anyone but rather to share the story and let this be lesson to all of us to be grateful for what we have and to never let a day pass when you don’t share with those you love how you feel about them. No matter how annoying things are in your day, whether it’s running late because of a doctor’s appointment and traffic jams, or getting to work and finding out you’ve got a rushed deadline and overtime waiting for you on the weekend, or simply feeling bad because your day or perhaps your life for that matter, isn’t going as planned- NOTHING is wrong because you are alive and likely surrounded by people who love you no matter what..

Brittney, I feel honored and thankful to have known you and I know you’re in heaven looking down on all of us today. May we always remember you as the beautiful person you were and May we all use your life as an example to live ours to the fullest, as you did, grateful for the gifts we have and the love we share with others, because we never know when God might call us as He called you. May you rest in peace and May those who mourn you be surrounded by God's grace and love. LITB.