Bomb explodes too near

The type of greeting I usually receive when I return home from running errands is at most a hello or if Dad is home, a quick, one-armed effortless hug. My brothers won't even make eye contact until something is said directly to or affecting them. \nNow, imagine if every time you came home from getting groceries or shopping at the mall, your mom and dad ran up to you with mile wide smiles and arms opened wide enough to hug a tree. What if, each time you got home from classes, your parents hugged and held onto you until they cried, not wanting to let go of you until you left the house again. For my cousins, they don't have to imagine anything like this. This is certainly now and always has been, their life. \nMy 18-year-old cousin, Hila (ee-la) loves life. She loves going out for any type of reason like any other teenage girl; she loves to go out and enjoy the outdoor social life. But yesterday she returned home from the mall and got one of those mom and dad greetings, only they can understand. \nHila is the type of girl who enjoys every minute of her life. She doesn't take any second for granted. Yesterday, Hila lived five minutes of her life that she will never be more grateful for. \nOn October 4, a suicide bomb went off in a nearby mall in Kfar Saba, just north of Tel-Aviv, killing two and injuring over twenty. Hila was thankfully home. But she was in the mall just five minutes before. Had she stopped for a snack on the way, she might be dead. Had she even stopped to tie her shoe, my cousin might be in the hospital suffering from cuts and shock like her two best friends. \nI talked to Hila yesterday on the phone and she sounded more shaky and tense than ever before. We talked for about the same amount of time she missed getting blown up by. We talked for five good minutes -- five minutes she almost didn't have. \nOne of her best friends is required to have surgery to remove the ringing in her ears caused by the detonation. She's also seeing a psychiatrist to help relieve her condition of shock. She was a mere 10 yards from the bomb. \n"I tried to call every one of my friends after the explosion," Hila said. "I called people I had not talked to in years, but the one friend I did not call was the one who got hurt."\nEven before this most recent attack near her house, Hila explained to me how her life has changed because of the suicide bombs.\n"Any time I leave the house to go out with friends, my parents will call me numerous times to see how I am doing," Hila said. "When I go out at night, my parents will not even fall asleep until they know I have made it home."\nI can just imagine the scene last week when Hila walked in her front door. Her parents running and hoping to see the same precious face they saw earlier that day, running and hoping to see their daughter in the same condition as before. They probably had their arms wide open with tears running down their faces. A scene most of us could only imagine.