Yesterday, I thought about posting something about the tragic event of that day, seven years ago, but I didn't..I just didn't know what to say, and everything I tried to say, just didn't sound right.
I will never forget that day, or what I was doing. I thought about it all day, yesterday, in a purely selfish way, I suppose, because I was with my Aunt Polly on that day, and she was still full of life, and happy to have me there with her, and now she is gone.
My mom had passed away, only five months before, and I spent a lot of time with Aunt Polly, drawing strength and comfort from her, knowing that she had loved my mother, her sister-in-law, and that Mama had loved her so much. She was able to share things about my family that I hadn't known before, which surprised me, because it filled in some missing blanks in my own knowledge of my mom's family.
So, on that morning in September, hearing Aunt Polly stirring around in the kitchen, making coffee, and getting ready to make biscuits, listening to her favorite station on the radio, we had gotten up, headed for the kitchen when the phone rang. A plane had just hit some big building in New York.
Turn on the TV, she had said, and we did, just in time to see the second one hit. We were stunned. We didn't know what to think. We stood, transfixed, staring at the television screen, not really comprehending what was happening. We just knew it was awful.
Not knowing what might happen, we headed for home, in the next state, so we could be with our son. Nothing felt certain, and for the next days and weeks, we joined the rest of the world in this horrible feeling of uncertainty about what was happening in our country, and grieving for the loss of life, of hopes, and dreams of so many, and felt helpless.
I just received an email with a link to a photo essay, talking about America before Pearl Harbor, and how that day, December 7th, 1941, forever changed it.
Well, a lot has happened since then, some good, some bad, but what happened on September 11th, 2001, changed everything in such a way, that it is hard to fathom the reality of it. I don't know if we ever will, but I know that we all need to do everything possible to see that it never happens again.
The photo shown is from the essay. I think some of you may find them interesting, and at least, nostalgic.
4 comments:
Things certainly have not been the same since then.
It seems like life is almost idyllic for a time and then something happens that changes everything. I imagine that is how it felt on 12/7/41 and it is certainly how it felt on 9/11/01. On a smaller scale, we experience many of the those life altering changes by way of divorce, death, injury, etc.
Life is never certain and it is certainly alsways changing. We never know what tomorrow brings so the best we can do is live each day with good purpose, doing all we can to raise the spirits of others which in turn lifts our own. In the end, it's not about financial success or intellectual acheivements but about leaving our little piece of the world a better place.
Hermit..to say the least!
rockync..Amen.
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