Heads or Tails #4 - September 11th

The theme this week is to reflect on our memories of September 11, 2001. Which is appropriate given tomorrow's date - six years later. It's hard in a lot of ways to believe that it's been six years already. I'm sure it's harder for the families and those with loved ones who perished that day.

I was at work that morning when I remember our secretary, Hope, saying something about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York. We didn't have a television in our office but we did have a radio, which is how Hope had found out. I called Ron at home (he was staying home with Abby at the time) to see if he'd heard. He hadn't, so immediately turned on the tv. I was on the phone with him when the plane hit the second tower, so I heard about that from him. I also was on the phone with him later, when the second tower collapsed. I'd heard the first one collapse over the radio, along with the rest of our staff, who were gathered around Hope's desk for most of the morning.

Over the rest of the day, we listened to the radio as much as we could and also watched news footage on the internet. I don't remember much else about work that day, but I know that Ron and I watched the news footage at home that night. And I remember how devastated and lost I felt to know that something like that could happen here. We'd lived pretty care-free before that, as Americans, unlike so many other parts of the world where conflict is an every day reality.

Abby was only 5 months old on that day. I worried for her and what kind of a world she would grow up in - I knew it wouldn't be the same world that I had grown up in. I felt proud to be an American and we purchased and hung an American flag when we moved into our first house only a couple of months later. It took about that long to get a flag - they were out of stock and back-ordered everywhere we checked. I remember how patriotic we felt and everyone around us - proud to be Americans, and horrified at what our complacency had cost us.

I don't know anyone personally who died that day or who lost a loved one. I can only try to imagine their grief and anger over the devastation of that loss. I know that I mourn the loss of the freedoms we had before that day and the symbol of the towers over the New York skyline. And I pray that the world will know peace someday - for us, for our children and for their children.

God Bless America.

Help remember this day over at Skittles' Place.