We Shall Never Forget!

September 11th

A Day to Remember

To Heal

To Love

To Stand United

I remember as though it was yesterday.  I will never forget it for as long as I live.

Alexa was 5 and Riley was 3 and I was prepping them for kindergarten, pre-school and

putting Alexa's hair up for morning ballet class in front of the TV.
I remember the innocence of them as children...the innocence and sweetness of Mister Rogers playing on the TV.

They were watching Mister Rogers on PBS and they actually interrupted the kids show

to announce breaking news that could be upsetting to children.  So I decided to check it out while they
ran into the bathroom to brush their teeth.

So innocent they were...so innocent I was to events like this...so innocent the Country was that day.
And then...

I turned the channel and saw this.  Unbelievable but yet we thought it was just 

an "accident"...a plane flew into the World Trade Center.  Tragic yes but not alarming for most in

the US. Certainly upsetting but then you feel something.

We kept watching...because something about it wasn't right...something in my gut told me this wasn't just an accident..and you feel scared...deep down in the depths of your stomach something is telling you that this is NOT right.

Then a few minutes later I saw this happen.  A second plane.  You watch it hit the second tower.

Your mouth opens but no sound comes out, you stop breathing because you can't quite believe what is happening. You are watching the TERROR.  My stomach sank, my heart clenched and I sank to the floor.  The kids had no idea exactly what happened but they knew it was terrible and Riley started crying.
Why mommy? What's the matter mommy? Why are you sad mommy?

Then they say the words "terrorists" and "death" and "more" planes headed to DC.

My husband works in DC two blocks from the White House (now he works across street from White House ugh).
I remember frantically trying to call him on his cell, no cells were working that day, no contact with anyone.

Anyone? Where is everyone that you love? Your mind races..your heart stops.
You just try to breathe.

Our phone is ringing...his family calling to see where he is...my family calling to tell me my brother is overseas and not at work at the Pentagon that day.
Craziness...kids crying, my neighbors heading over to see how we were.
Everyone standing outside in disbelief.
TVs and radios blaring out of every window, car, house.
Its everywhere.

 Pentagon after being hit

Finally my husband got a call through and had been at a meeting in Maryland that morning...thank God...and he was headed home ASAP.  Gridlock in DC as news of a plane hitting the Pentagon and another on the way to the Capitol.  Total Panic in the United States and for those in NYC and Washington, DC.
 I can never ever explain the horror, terror and fright that we had that day...its unexplainable.

So I decide NORMALCY is the order of the day for the kids to get them away from it.
How did you get away from it that day...it was everywhere..on people's faces, on the radio, in the conversations.

FEAR and DISBELIEF and PAIN

Alexa had ballet so we went to ballet..ballet is across from a US base..there are 5 US tanks surrounding it and armed guards everywhere...frightening.  Of course my boy being a BOY loved that part and is mostly what he remembers about that day.

Needless to say ballet and school was cancelled on 9-11 and we headed home to glue ourselves to the TV and see and hug dad.

Then both towers collapsed the world stopped breathing...for a few seconds..no one moved, no one said anything, hands covered eyes and mouths...complete & utter silence.


Then the SIRENS and ALARMS and SCREAMS and sounds of DESPERATION
RED LIGHTS BLINKING IN A SEA OF WHITE...
across the TV, across the US, across the streets.
Sounds I hope to never hear again.  Feelings I hope to never have again.

And images that I can never erase from my memory, images I never want to see again.
Things that no one should witness let alone see over and over...but we wanted to see..
we needed to see...we need to understand WHY?

What was happening?  What do we tell our children? How do we sleep at night?
Have we ever really learned WHY?  Do we truly understand what happened?
No one truly knows..each perspective is different..each memory different..
yet we all prayed, we all cried and we all mourned.
WHAT DO WE DO was on everyone's mind in the United States of America that day.

The stillness and whiteness...NYC gone white with debris and horror.

I can't imagine the horror of being there in NYC that day.
The city I love so much devastated in such a way no one was sure if it would recover.

I live near Washington, DC...my relatives and friends work in the Pentagon...my husband works in the city.  There was a sense of fright and terror that day in DC...something that no one here will ever forget.
So many lives lost, hearts broken, futures taken away.

BROKEN...we were all a bit broken.

So many people died that day..so many gave their lives so others might have a chance.

So many people held their breaths and vowed to stand by their country.
To save...to protect...to honor.

Yet we stood together, we found a way to move forward, to honor
to remember and to find a way to go on with our lives and futures.
Our country tried to heal as our own minds and hearts healed along with it.

The 9-11 Memorials in NYC

Shanksville, PA Memorial..stillness in a field..where those that died trying to save

a country can be remembered forever.

the Pentagon Memorial...a bench for each person that died..lit up like angel wings

But we won't forget.

We will NEVER forget.

It is ingrained in everyone's mind that experienced this..no matter where you lived...how old you were...what race you are...what religion you practice.  

We experienced it...we felt it...we grieved...we cried...we screamed...we fell to the ground in despair...

but most of all....

WE REMEMBER



{all pictures credited to google.com}