I was just on my way to pick up Nikki from school for an orthodontist appointment when I tuned the radio to 99.9 KFAV. They just happened to be in the middle of a 9/11 dedication. I didn't know the song or the singer, and I can't remember all of the words right now, but the mention of looking into the blue sky that day wondering where all the planes were brought me right back to that fateful day 12 years ago and all of the emotions came flooding back.
Wiping tears from my eyes so that I could see to drive I could remember the eerie quiet in the sky like it was yesterday. I was sent home from work to be with my family and all we could do was stare at the devastation on TV. Nikki was little. Still in diapers...squatting down in front of the TV, her young mind having no way to comprehend what she was watching. I hugged her so hard and cried. I wondered what kind of world I had brought this innocent little child into. I remember the want...no, the NEED to help in some way. Blood banks were turning people away they were so crowded. What could I do? I felt helpless. I was angry...LIVID beyond belief that those monsters had the audacity to come into our great country and murder thousands of our American people. I felt a deep sadness for the loss of life that occurred. The firefighters, the police, the businessmen and women in the towers when they collapsed. The families who had lost their loved ones. Children who would never see their parents again. I was shocked and horrified by the images of people jumping from the towers. I was proud of the men and women on United Airlines Flight 93 who gave their life for their country that day.
I remember waking up the next day , on 9/12, and thinking it all had to be a dream and then turning on the TV only to find that my worst nightmares were true. The towers were still burning. They burned for days. But the American people became something different that day. We became patriots. Flags flew high and proud and we banded together. We were proud to be Americans. That void created by the deep feeling of helplessness was filled with pride and patriotism.
I fly a flag in my front yard every day and so should every other home in America just as we did on 9/12/2001. Today it is at half-staff to honor those that were lost on 9/11/2001.
Honor the memory of those lost on 9/11 by being the people we were on 9/12. Never Forget.
