I got a second kiddo feeling under the weather, she came home last night not feeling well from her dad's house.....and I am home today for a televisit for my boy with his geneticist....otherwise this morning would have found me scrambling....my least favorite part of single motherhood.......and this morning it seemed appropriate to talk about THIS day....such a powerful one....we all know where we were on that morning.....I was teaching....a new teacher....and we actually had a news broadcast that was fed through our classrooms.....and started to see the initial impact of the first plane, and turned it off.....and went about our day.....but spent our preps and spare moments watching the news in the main office....no cell phones yet.....and just sat there in horror.....tears streaming.....horror overtaking us.....feeling despondent and terrified.......doing our best to keep it together......and I remember being so deeply touched by it all.....as were most people.....just such unimaginable horror and loss of life.....alongside such captivating stories of bravery....and survival....and divine timing, and missing being there too.....just such powerful stories in every direction....and courage.....and the uniting of people in a way that I had never seen in my lifetime, the power of the human spirit and our willingness to stand united.....I remember meeting my boyfriend at the time at the diner and just feeling numb.....trying to process the day with him....not having much of an appetite.....or even much to say......it all just seemed surreal.....and I knew I would never forget.....and haven't.....the power of a day....of circumstance.....the vulnerability of our country in that moment.....and all of the changes that have happened since and changed as a result.....I suppose I would compare it some to living through the pandemic part of history, not quite the same but powerful enough to affect a person's life deeply and completely.....and my 4th graders now will never know.....not fully what 9/11 means or meant to so many.......just so many lives.....I too witnessed a horror as a 4th grader, once upon a time.....watching the Challenger launch on TV and watching it explode.....not quite processing the horror of that moment then, but understanding it now......and I guess it makes me think about all of the journeys I believe in so deeply, and the meant to be parts of our lives.....that such an enormous group of folks could have met their end all together.....how all of their journeys landed there, on that day, in that moment......when so many somehow narrowly escaped it.....it is a nod to intuition and to the detours our lives take that perhaps keep us safe, when we don't even know.....but it is curious to think of it now from a different perspective....and I remember even then feeling that......hearing the stories of people who were not in the Twin Towers for so many random reasons THAT day, THAT moment............and just marveling at the power of that.....so many heroes died that day.....so many souls that left behind such powerful legacies.....and it still gets me to think of.....and it always will......they all deserve to be remembered and thought of........always.......God bless each and every person that lost their lives that tragic day, and all the people they left behind......you are not forgotten.....NEVER........
jperuso
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