Thursday, September 11, 2008

Where were you when the world stopped turning...

...on that September day? Each September 11th for the last 7 years I have taken a few moments to reflect back upon what I was doing the moment those planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Today will be no different. I will still remember what happened that day, and how it has affected me and my family.

I had just sent the girls out the door to catch their buses, and I was sitting down to watch Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. They say no news is good news, but that morning the news they were reporting was anything but good. Images of a building being hit by a plane are still fresh in my mind. It seemed like a freak accident, freakier still when it happened again. Suddenly, everything I knew to be safe and free was being threatened by an unknown and evil force. I didn't want to keep watching, but I knew I couldn't stop. I wondered if my girls would find out about it at school, and I was fearful for their reactions. Would they be frightened like I was, or were they too young to fully understand what I didn't even understand myself. The next moment that I will relive again and again in years to come was Katie Couric on the air with someone in the Pentagon when it was attacked. It was then I knew that this terrible thing was not going away. I felt cold fear in my heart for a future where our freedoms would be tested. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, joyfully anticipating the birth of a son, one who would now be coming into a world where peace had been taken away. I quietly turned off the tv, and said a silent prayer to the one person who I knew could take away my fears. Would I someday have to send this unborn boy off to fight for the freedoms that he didn't even know about? Could I do it? Could he? I have had uncles and cousins and friends and father-in-laws go to war. Some of them came back; some didn't. Was this the life my son was coming into the world for? I can't answer that question yet; but I do know that on that day a calm assurance came to me that my son would be protected, and that he would be prepared in life to do whatever he was asked to do. Perhaps he will have to serve his country; I'm preparing him to serve his God. From the moment he was born I have instilled in him a love for this country and the precious freedoms that belong to us. I hope he will always remember what a privilege it is to live here, in the land of the free and the brave. I have never been prouder to fly my flag than on that day. Today, as I drove to work there were flags everywhere, symbolizing that we haven't forgotten that not-so- long ago day. Images of mothers who lost husbands, and children who lost fathers, and husbands who lost wives, and parents who lost children will be forever embedded in my heart. I still have a bad habit now of turning on the tv each morning to make sure my world is safe. I hope I never have to see something like that happening again. I salute all those who lost loved ones on 9-11, and subsequently in any and all conflicts which have been fought to preserve this country for me and my posterity. Take a minute today and reflect upon your blessings from living in America. It's well worth your time.

1 comment:

Emily said...

What a beautiful post. I think we all remember so vividly where we were and what we were doing when we learned what was happening that fateful morning. It's almost hard to believe that 7 years have passed since then. We are still feeling the effects of it so pertinently in our every day lives. Thanks for sharing about the comfort you received, despite all the threats to peace in the world.