Skip to main content

It still takes my breath away

Every year around this time I write a 9/11 post. This year will be no different. Yet in some ways it is different. As the years pass, I think about it less and less. It used to weigh on my heart as the anniversary was a few weeks away. But this year, I don't think I thought about until it was about a week away. 

Although I don't think time heals all wounds, time can certainly lessen the memories and the pain. But as I watched streaming video of the remembrance ceremony today, I saw just how raw and painful this day is for those who lost loved ones during that relatively short amount of time. My heart ached for the people whose voices cracked as they read the names of their loved ones. My eyes welled up with tears, particularly as I watched and heard young people say the names of their relatives and most definitely when someone had lost a parent or child.

Every year I allow myself to be somber and reflective. I always watch a few 9/11 programs; my favorite is "102 Minutes That Changed America." I am very interested in the personal stories. There are many to be told. 

I will never forget that day, what I was doing, where I was. And my reliving it every year helps to ensure this, even though it is painful to me. No matter how   many times I watch the planes crash into the WTC, watch the towers fall, or see people as they jump to their death, I get choked up. I am pretty sure I always will. 

Tomorrow I will go back to the way things were. 

But not today.
Labels:

Comments

Unapologetically Mundane said…
It's so interesting how everyone wants to talk about what they were doing that day. It felt so monumental to all of us, and it's even sadder for me to think about now that I live here. I'll see you here when the museum opens.
September 13, 2013 at 3:51 PM
Facie said…
Yes, yes, you will!
September 14, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Facie said…
Well, to be clear, I won't be there right when it opens, but I have every intention of getting there in the next couple of years. Now that my kid is 10, I want to take her there and to DC in the next few years.
September 14, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What a year 2021 has been (Day 7)

I have almost no words for what happened yesterday at the Capitol. Protesting is one thing (though I truly think it is and has been time to move on). But to storm the Capitol? A friend on Facebook said, quite simply, " Almost 20 years ago a group of people on an airplane sacrificed themselves to protect the Capitol. How far we have fallen!" Indeed. And, yes, it IS storming the Capitol. I have seen numerous videos of people knocking down barricades/fences, pushing police officers, and breaking windows and climbing through them. That is beyond protesting. And even if a protestor did not do those things, if they followed those seditionists past those barricades and into the building, they are just as guilty. I did not support the violent protests this summer that resulted in damages to businesses and public property (I was in full support of the actual protests). But I also acknowledged as a white person, I cannot truly put myself in the position of a black person who is angry a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why do they stand up there and say that when they are just lying?

That extra-long title is courtesy of my nine-year-old and was something she uttered during "Say Yes to the Dress" on Friday evening. I watch very little reality TV, but I make an exception for this show because I like to look at the dresses. And sometimes, the stories are heart-warming. Typically at the end of the show, a snippet of a wedding is aired. In this particular show, a woman who was confined to a wheelchair was exchanging vows with her fiance. After the two of them finished, J made her comment. I asked her what she meant as I must have been on the computer while the TV was on, and she explained that because so many people just get divorced, why do they even say "as long as we both shall live"? That is tough one, kid. I tried with what I thought was a sound explanation: Most of the people who get married truly believe they will be together the rest of their lives, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. But if you don't think that you will be ...
10 comments
Read more

Disenfranchised Republican

When I went to vote this a.m., I handed my ID to the guy, since my last name can be tricky. He looked for several minutes in the box with the cards. Then he asked if I was in the right place (there is another area in this room, for people in a different neighborhood, I presume). And I told him that this is where I have always voted. He then reviewed the bound paper list, found my name, but could not figure out why it was there, yet not in the box with the cards. Then he realized what was going on and rather exclaimed, "Oh, you are a Republican!" One of the ladies sitting next to him said, "Oh, one of those." I said I assumed they had not seen too many of "my kind" that morning, and she said I was the third. Then, being the open person I am, I eagerly said I was coming to rock the vote and vote for Ron Paul. One of the women commented that she liked some of the things he had stood for, perhaps to try to make me feel as if I was not voting for a terrible per...
9 comments
Read more