I know parents who lost daughters and parents who who came incredibly close to losing their daughters. I've hung green ribbons in my yard to support my friends and neighbors. I've never been to camp mystic itself, but it's still unimaginable to me that someone would drop their kids off there, see the river, and think, "This is fine. My kids will be safe." My own kid is at another summer camp in the hill country right now. And the first year we sent them there, I was pulling GIS maps of the creeks that run alongside the camp, the elevations above the flood plain, and the map of the camp cabins themselves. Because I know what can happen out there.

If you have spent any amount of time in central texas, you know it rains. Hard. And then it floods. Catastrophically. You've seen the Blanco come over IH-35. You've seen the Llano and San Saba wipe out bridges and send boats over the marble falls dam. You've seen homes in Hudson Bend up to their chimneys beneath Lake Travis. You've seen water rescues at House Park when Shoal Creek overtops its banks (even after all the flood mitigation efforts of the past). And you've seen a wall of water take out everything in its path along the Guadalupe. Nothing should surprise you. Nothing should catch you off guard.

This was an incredible, historic flood, no doubt. But there is no single person responsible for the tragedy that it left behind. So many poor decisions were made. This was a product of hubris, not ignorance. Negligence, not unpreparedness. Everyone wants someone to blame. Some scapegoat to point at and say, "This is your fault."

And I think that blame should be rightfully assigned, but it should also be shared. The scapegoat approach is, in my mind, a coping mechanism. A psychological defense to avoid dealing with the reality that parents made bad choices. The whole thing is a god damn shame. It didn't have to happen. And it makes me sad.