An explosion rocked the Khan al-Khalili bazaar in Cairo today near the Hussein mosque killing at least one — a French tourist. From the best I can tell from the varied reports online, it may have happened in the sidewalk cafe seating area seen in the background at the right of this image I took during my trip a couple of weeks ago. That’s the Hussein mosque in the top right. Here’s a link to the story on the BBC site. It was on CNN’s homepage earlier but has since been bumped for Oscar coverage. Such is the state of American journalism.

My wife and I often talk about our “almost life” — that life that we might lead if we had left the house 5 minutes earlier or been behind that car on the freeway instead of in front of it. So many things could send your life reeling in a different direction at any moment that it’s hard to fathom. Had my trip to Cairo been this week instead of two weeks ago… you get the idea.

You have to consider the dangers of any trip you take but you also have to be aware that things can happen to you no matter where you are. On the news this morning, I saw where a traffic accident had claimed the life of a local man. Also, a woman from a neighboring town had been killed by her ex-boyfriend. Things can happen to you anywhere, any time. That’s no excuse to take crazy chances but you do need to go about your life.

My heart goes out to the families of those that were injured or killed in this blast in Cairo. Unfortunately for the victims, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been me, but it wasn’t. It was them and that was no fault of theirs. They were just going about their lives.