9/11

(The image above was searched on google and is NOT my image.  I own no rights to it but I think it's beautiful and wanted to repost)

 

Today is a bittersweet day for me.  Today I celebrate my 33rd birthday but today is also a day of mourning and remembrance for the events of 9/11/2001.  Everyone has their story....this is mine:

 

My daughter was 7 1/2 months old and I was driving from my apartment to my mom's (and sister's) house to babysit my sister's daughter for the day.  The day was going like any other day, except that I was celebrating a milestone...I was turning 21.  As I was driving, I was listening to the radio and heard them cut in with breaking news.  The way that they phrased it was that some "idiot" had crashed a plane into the World Trade Center.  They didn't know the real story, at the time.  Laughing it off, they made light of the situation, not knowing that this was an attack on our freedom.

 

As I walked in the front door of my mom's house, I turned my face to the TV and my mom said, "Did you hear about the plane that hit the World Trade Center?"  I commented back that I'd heard it on the radio that some idiot had run into the building.  Moments later, we watched the live video as the second plane hit.  I was panicked out of my mind....this was no longer "some idiot"...this was terrible.

 

 

Being close to Atlanta at the time, we were considered one of the at-risk cities for the terrorists to come after (because of the CDC).  I was panicked but in complete shock and awe as we watched hours of the live video.  I couldn't tear myself away from it.  I watched the stories of the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania.  I watched the people running out of the buildings and some jumping in desperation.  Then I watched the towers fall, one at a time.  The entire time, I was in tears.  Those poor people...their poor families.

 

I can honestly say, without questions, that the events of that day have changed me forever.  I share the celebration of my birth with the death of so many in an attack on our country's own soil.  I share my birthday with a day that started a war that we are still fighting today in countries overseas.  It is bittersweet.  I don't think I will ever truly celebrate again, knowing that so many have lost their lives on this day and so many are mourning their losses.  So here's what I'm hoping....

 

I hope that our nation never forgets.  Like a scar on your body, I hope that, though it heals, it leaves a mark that reminds you daily that you are living in a nation that is free because of the brave men and women that fight for it.  I hope that our nation takes a moment to pray for the families of those that lost their lives and I hope that our nation takes a moment to recognize and remember the victims of 9/11.  I hope that our nation stands up today and makes a stand that we will NOT have our liberty taken away from us.  I hope that our nation stands up and says, "You will NOT come into our country and scare us....we are united and proud to be Americans."  Most of all, I hope that our nation looks forward and thinks of how we can make this day a day that celebrates the lives of those lost and the future our great country has.  May God Bless the USA!