Captivated by the news.

As a mom of 2 little ones with busy schedules, I rarely get a chance to sit down and watch the news...and by rarely I mean never. But last week, because I was traveling for work, I had a chance to watch the morning news and was captivated by some incredible and historic stories.

First of all, I knew that the location of where I was headed for work had just been hit hard by storms...but I had no idea that I was landing in one of the epicenters. Just 4 days before I arrived at The Embassy Suites in Bentonville, AR they had videotaped a tornado from the cameras on the roof of the building. YIKES! I have been in earthquakes, blizzard and hurricanes...but I had never seen a tornado and the idea of it freaked me out. What I learned the next morning was that the tornadoes that worried me had touched down a few states away and with a vengeance. I was glued to the "Today Show" emotionally drawn to both big stories of the morning...for very different reasons. My heart went out to all of the people in Tuscaloosa and the surrounding areas and I was incredibly intrigued and drawn into everything surrounding "The Royal Wedding".

I had lived in Tuscaloosa for a month before the 1996 Olympic Games. At that time, I had just gotten into running and ran throughout the entire state...or so it seemed. The town was awesome...great food, friendly people and an amazing University swim pool. It was in Tuscaloosa where I first learned what "sweet tea" was all about. As I watched the news and saw the devastation from the tornadoes, all those wonderful memories came back to me once again. Please help the people of Alabama any way you can.

Changing gears, the coverage of the "Royal Wedding" absolutely sucked me in. I was watching the TV, mouth open, just waiting for a hook! I didn't get up for the actual LIVE wedding but I did set my DVR and watched it first thing in the morning. I was so consumed by it that I actually had a tear in my eye as I said to my husband, "Princess Di would have been so proud of her son."....as if I really knew her. But, I think that is part of the reason why people loved her so much, you felt like you could be her friend. She seemed very real. I finally stopped checking in on the Royal Couple yesterday realizing I needed to give them their privacy and myself a reality check. :)

And then there was last night. Erik and I had gone to a movie, "Source Code" and when we stepped out and turned on our phones I was a bit freaked out. Twitter was all abuzz with "BREAKING NEWS" from President Obama. If you have seen "Source Code" then you know why my freak out was way more than a normal freak out. I learned, through Twitter, that US military had killed Osama bin Laden. And when we got home, we turned on CNN. Huge day in history that I have yet to wrap my feelings around. All I can say is that I had a true and honest moment of really thinking of and feeling for everyone affected by 9/11 and a huge sense of gratitude for our Armed Forces!

Over the past few days, I was reminded of the power of our media. We witnessed huge stories that will find their place in history. On April 27th Alabama was hit by some of the most severe tornadoes in history. We will all remember where we were and what we were doing when we watched Prince William and Kate Middleton walk down the aisle and I will remember the moment of coming out of the movie to learn that Osama had finally been killed. April 29 and May 1st...what were you doing?