Remembering

9/11

Just how powerful can three numbers be? The mere mention of 9/11 floods us all with memories. Can it really have been eight years ago? It seems like it is much fresher than that. The details are still vivid. The memories of that day will haunt most of us for the rest of our lives.

I remember the day vividly. I was working, my kids were in school and my husband was at home. So close, but so far away from each other. The internet was bogged down, you could not access any news sites! I was in a panic! My family was spread out and our world as we know it, was under attack. The news reports were starting to trickle in, it was hard to sort the truth from the rumors. Hundreds of people were gone....there was no rumor to that. Policemen, firemen, secretaries, children. It didn't matter who you were, they didn't discriminate. They didn't care. The recordings left on answering machines saying good-bye to loved ones. The calls home from the men and women on Flight 93. How much more could we take? The images, the video, the voices, the faces. Those will all be with me the rest of my life.

I called the school to find out what our kids knew. Blaine was only 10, he was in elementary school. They hadn't been told anything. My daughter was in 8th grade, they were watching the news in their classrooms. At the urging of the school, I didn't go to pick them up, however that went against every fiber of my being. When I did get home, John was at work. The kids and I sat on the bed close together and watched the news, over and over and over. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was surreal to say the least.

I remember my grandmother telling me that she'd never thought she'd live to see anything worse than Pearl Harbor. She said no one should have to live through two of those!

The skies were quiet. Where we usually have a lot of air traffic, there was none. No vapor trails, no sounds of jets. Just eerie quiet.

We all knew that war was imminent. Even those that are so against the idea of war couldn't have felt as strongly after what they had witnessed, could they?

I guess I thought that it would be quick. Like the Gulf War - we go in, we get out. No such luck. Eight years later we are still waging war. Now I am faced with the fact that my son may be part of this war. It's something I try to keep out of my every day thinking, but it's there, nagging at me. What if? I just can't think about it.

The only justification I have is to remind myself what a sacrifice each and every one of these young men and women make when they join our military forces. A responsibility to each and every one of us to keep us safe, to keep us free and to keep something like this from happening again. Our kids are taking care of us. The roles have been reversed.

Today is a somber day of remembrance. A day for us to look around at all that we hold dear. In my opinion, we need to take this day and make sure that each and every person who means anything to us knows it.

Have I told you how proud I am of my soldier?