carmenbeaudry | Amtrak derailment

By now, most of you will have read about the train derailment yesterday. It's about 15 miles south of here, on a route I take sometimes when I go to visit my daughter in Portland. It's also closed the southbound lanes of the main north-south route for the entire west coast of the US. The only detours take between an hour to an hour and a half extra, so traffic is going to be hell for the near future.

This was the first trip for passenger trains on a new, high speed route. Because of this, there were people on the train that wouldn't ordinarily be on it, train fans and the like. One of the people I know in the SCA, Zack, was riding the train with his friend. After the crash yesterday, he couldn't be found anywhere. Frends spent many hours going to every hospital in the area trying to find him. His wife was going crazy, and no one could give her any news of him. Finally, last night it was determined that Zack and his friend Jim were among the three killed.

I am numb. This is the 3rd person I've known who has died in the last 6 weeks. While this is not affecting me as much as my Dad, Stepmother and Mother's problems, it still hits. I keep wondering how much more I can take, and then immediately reminding the Universe that I don't mean that as a challenge.

I don't know what, if anything, I can do for those closer to him. I don't know what to say that doesn't sound trite, not that anything really helps.

I just want this all to stop.