What It's Like (in [almost] real time)

 I thought it might be interesting to give an inside view into this news and show what it was like (for me, at least) in (recreated) real time:

I left home at 6:20 for my morning exercise and arrived (by foot) at the newish road that is a shortcut through open fields between my part of the city and the original part of the city. It's 2.5 km long. Did I mention the "open fields" part?! It's beautiful and lovely and also very exposed.

 Juuuust as I arrived I heard the loudest overhead BOOM I have heard since October 7. Looking up, I saw a big, fat trail of white smoke going across what appeared to be the whole sky. Uh oh....Then I heard a whole lot of "pop pop pop", which in the US might be fireworks but here are generally much more nefarious (my understanding is that it's incoming missiles and Iron Dome interceptions that are not close enough that we need a "get in the bomb shelter" siren, but close enough that we hear the action). 

Got on my favorite news source: the local Anglos list :):

Found out that there were rockets in Modi'in and Ramle among other places that, while not around the corner, are also not terribly far away. And that other people also thought this BOOM was much louder than others. I went on the Red Alert app from the Homefront Command and saw this, which literally gave shivers for a moment: 

112 places were having sirens right now?! And I'm standing on the edge of a long, open field trying to decide if I should continue to run or go home.

I turned to the right and WOW--just like the "Room of Requirement" in Harry Potter I saw a freestanding bomb shelter! Hurrah! Pretty sure I have never seen another in my part of the city (then again, forgot this one was there until I needed it)

Walked a few steps more and saw that, alas, I continue to wait for my Hogwarts acceptance letter because the darn thing was locked:

One of the heads of the local volunteer EMT squad posted shortly after I did (the list was going bonkers with messages), so (five minutes after the BOOM), I asked him privately for his input:

A minute later someone posted this photo to the Anglos list, which made me a tad more concerned (which sounds so much nicer than "panicky", doesn't it?!):

EEEK. I can't imagine anyone looking at that photo and feeling calm and collected.....

By this point, nothing else had happened. So I just kept going. And kept refreshing the news:

By about thirty minutes after the BOOM and halfway through my run, we knew that the BOOM had been a ballistic missile (aka "A BIG ONE"), although it was assumed that Iran was the bad actor (turned out they likely funded it but didn't send it themselves)

Heard back from my friend (Bella and Avi's mom) who lives nearest to the place I was running, who I had asked earlier if I could join them in their mamad if a siren happened. Ended up being the ENN ("Ellen News Network"). telling her what was going on. 

Still going back and forth in a reduced area for my run. Still nothing else had happened. On the one hand, it was possible Iran (or one of the other groups that hates us and wants us wiped off the map) was taking a coffee break before starting a giant attack. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that what had already occurred was all that was going to happen.

From my WhatsApp status:

And still, I was going back and forth in an area of about 3/4 km. In the end, I just kept praying and just kept going. Ended up with 7 km rather than my usual 6, but slooow pace because, hey, I had a lot of checking the news to do while I was running.

And then I came home, got ready and went to to work in Jerusalem like today was just like any normal day. Because here in Miracle-Ville, where tons of people *might* have died this morning but didn't, life just goes on.

Yet another happy ending to the early morning drama: Shalom Shachne came with me and we went to the Kotel in honor of his birthday today :)