May We Never Forget…

This morning, I woke up…

Much like other mornings, although since it is Saturday, I didn’t wake up to an alarm, but rather to a 3 year old crawling into bed with me…

I rolled out of that bed minutes later… banished Ian to the hallway so I could go to the bathroom… looked out the window and lamented that it is raining (I never lament the rain… actually, I love it… but I am supposed to do an outdoor portrait shoot this evening)… headed down the stairs… turned on the Wii… jumped on the balance board (well… not literally… you are not supposed to jump on the balance board)… and began my workout…

I thought about what we should have for breakfast… the birthday party we are going to later… and the rain (again) that I heard pounding on my windows and roof. I thought about Phil and the teens he took to a quiz this morning… and the schoolwork that I need to get done late this evening…

And then I thought (almost as an after note), “What is today’s date, anyway?”

And it was September 11th . And then I remembered…

I remembered waking up to make a bottle for Seth… walking into the “office” to get what I thought would be an update on the Tigers from Phil… plane image on the computer… tower burning… TV turning on… second plane crashing… second tower burning… phones ringing… no one reaching Dad, flying Detroit to Chicago… baby bouncing in the doorway with Cheerios all day long…

Fast forward to today again… I checked facebook…

And my friends are doing much what I did when I woke up. They are posting wedding pictures… heading out for soccer games… and football games… and first haircuts… celebrating births… and lazy Saturdays…

It’s ironic, but when the events of September 11th first happened, I thought we would never stop talking about it… and thinking about it… and for some time, that was true… Although the references come far less frequently now; I have had several occasions this past year when I have thought of September 11th sort of “out of context”. These thoughts certainly come every time I walk past the picture collage of our honeymoon… hung in our living room… with me on the ferry and the twin towers making up the backdrop…

I have done my best to explain September 11th to my children (only one who was even born at the time), and I think they “get it”… sort of… The conversations usually end with Seth saying, “Isn’t that the time I bounced all day long in the doorway with Cheerios?” and Grace saying, “Yeah… I was still in Mommy’s tummy!”

I realize as I look at my beautiful Miah (as she finishes up her breakfast), that she is probably going to understand the gravity of September 11th about as well as I understand Pearl Harbor. To her… it will be a history lesson. To those of us who lived it, it has changed life forever…

But Americans are resilient! I am starkly reminded of this as I go over the list of things we’re thinking about today! Terrorism has not robbed us of our celebrations… of our freedoms… of our fun… of our families… of our lives! And for that I am proud on this dreary Saturday morning!

But may we never forget…

And with that, I give a heartfelt thank you to all of our rescuers… fireman and women… paramedics… police officers… some who gave their lives in the September 11th rescue efforts… some who have given their lives at other times in the line of duty… and all who risk everything for our safety…

And I offer a heartfelt thanks to all of our service men and women who have risked their lives and often made the ultimate sacrifice to secure our freedom!

May we never forget…

Lisa