.Remembering.

10 years.

Has it really been 10 years?

I was fortunate and did not lose anyone during the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Today, 

my head and heart..

my thoughts and prayers..

are with those who did.

These individuals have lived without their..

Father

Mother
Son
Daughter

Grandfather

Grandmother

Brother

Sister

Aunt

Uncle

Cousin

Best Friend

for 10 years.

...

10 birthdays.

10 Christmases.

...

 Loved ones have missed watching their children grow.

Missing the little things..

First words,

First steps,

First day of school,

First home-run,

First date,

First car,

First dance..

And the big things..

High School Graduation,

College Graduation,

First Job,

Wedding,

Grandchildren.

The lives of so many men and women were taken 10 years ago today.

 Each person at a different point in life.

..Each expecting they would see tomorrow..

..Each parent thinking they would tuck their child to bed that night..

..Each spouse waiting to hear the car door close in the driveway.

My heart is heavy thinking of the wives who waited to hear their husband walk through the front door

but never did.

For the parents who outlived their children..

For the young babies who would grow up only knowing the stories and pictures of their parent.

...

As I am sitting here attempting to write my thoughts, I remember where I was back in 2001. I was a freshman in high school and sitting in my morning art class joking with friends and flirting with an upperclassmen I had a crush on. An announcement on the loud speaker interrupted our conversation with news a plane just hit one of the Twin Towers. There were chuckles in my classroom and rolled eyes with comments like,"Wow--who was the smart one flying that plane?" We were young and completely shielded from the reality of what was actually happening in the city just 40 minutes away from us. Before anyone in the classroom could even wrap their head around what we heard, more announcements flooded the intercom..students burst out in tears..monitors turned on in every classroom..live broadcasts were now staring at the faces of students and teachers in Jefferson Township High School. We sat in silence as the second plane hit and the terror set in of knowing, "this was not an accident." The rest of the day is a pure blur but I do remember the chaos..the faces of my teachers, my friends, my classmates, and especially the students who knew their lives would never be the same..these students had parents, loved ones, who worked in the city..in the Twin Towers. When I finally made it home that day, my mother ran to me and hugged me and then did the same to my older brother. She wept in his arms and feared at that instant he would be taken away to war. I do not remember if we ate dinner that night, or what time my father made it home, all I remember, my family was together. 

We were lucky.