Hi everyone. My eyes feel so swollen and red from crying much of the day today. But that's ok. I think it is so important for us to to NEVER FORGET what happened that day on September 11, 2001, and even though it has been 10 years, I still continue to feel the horror and disbelief that I felt on that morning.
First of all, my husband is a firefighter and just 2 weeks prior to 9/11/01, he had flown up to Emmettsburg, Maryland to attend the International Association of Firefighters convention, where he met a group of FDNY firefighters...and they invited my husband and the rest of his group, to come and join them at their firehouse in Manhatten the next day, which he did. The FDNY cooked a big lunch and showed them around...they also toured a few other FDNY stations, looked at their fire vehicles, exchanged caps, t-shirts, etc. and basically fellowshipped as brothers, as they typically do when they travel to other areas. My husband was particularly excited about meeting the NY guys, was exchanging emails with them, and had been talking about them quite a bit and wearing the FDNY cap.
Then, the morning of 9/11/01.....I was driving home, having just dropped off my kids at school, and was thinking about hitting the bed, as I just got off my 12 hr night shift as a nurse....I was listening to the radio, when the dj's cut in and said something about a "small" plane had "accidentally" hit one of the World Trade Center towers. I was thinking "wow, I bet that probably killed some people". When I got home, I turned on the tv to the "Today Show" to hopefully find out what had happened. There on the screen was that gaping hole in the North Tower and Matt Lauer and Katie Couric were talking about it...still assuming it was probably an accident at that time. But it was what happened next that will always haunt me...that iconic second plane flying low and aiming straight towards the other Tower. It was those few moments before it hit, what was going through my mind...and I can't even bear to think what must have been going through the minds of those passengers or people in the building....knowing it was going to hit and knowing that this was NO accident. We all know the horrific events that followed.
I stayed glued to the tv for the rest of the day, watching in disbelief and total shock. As for my husband, the ordeal hit him very hard. He saw some of the fire engines that he had actually ridden in or looked at, gutted, crushed and covered with ash on the news footage...not knowing the fate of those firefighters he had just met only 2 weeks before. He did discover later that many of them had lost their lives, including their beloved chaplain, who he had also had the priviledge of meeting.
I went to a 9/11 memorial ceremony this morning held on our local courthouse lawn. As my husband marched in with the processional of firefighters, police and sheriff deputies, all dressed in their dress blues and white gloves, being led by the bagpipers and firetrucks...I never felt more proud to be a firefighter's wife. I know, with all my heart, that my husband and every single one of those brave men and women, would lay down their own life in order to save a complete stranger. It's in their blood. It is what they do.
On a side note...I've been in quite a bit of pain here recently, but today I noticed that I was feeling better. I really think that *distraction* or perhaps thinking of others' pain and suffering, can definitely have an impact of my own pain. Also, as I was writing this post, my pain began to subside....or I just wasn't thinking about it. I hope it works that way for y'all, too.