I knew America was forever changed and that Parker's world would be different. During the next year, I read every book that every widow, every survivor, every rescuer wrote. I wanted to know their stories...I understood that each one of them got up that fateful morning and went to work as normal, without a hint that for many of them it was their last day on earth, for many the last normal day of their lives.
Two years ago we had the opportunity to take Parker to New York City for a week and to Ground Zero. We tried our best to explain to him what we did not even understand ourselves.
So today I celebrate all the brave men and woman that paid the ultimate price. They are heros in every sense of the word.
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50 comments:
It's one of those moments in time that you can never forget ... I was working in an estate agents at the time and was just driving home from a viewing when it came on the radio. When I got back to the office we pulled the news up on the internet and watched those terrible events unfold before our eyes. Life certainly changed for all of us on that day and may we never forget. x
I was a freshman in college in one of my classes when it happened. We were touring the president and vice president's offices of the university and we turned on their tv when we heard. It was shocking. They let us go home so I walked back to my college house and continued to watch there. It was scary because you didn't know what was going to happen next. This generation's Pearl Harbor.
The memory IS still strong and for me it is so much different...My son is now in the USMC and will soon be deployed!! All of this gives me a whole new attitude for my freedom that I have today!! Great post!! I hope you have a good day!!
what a beautiful tribute!
my daughter and i were just talking on the way to school this morning about where we were that day. i was telling her that i remember exactly where i was standing at Bible study when someone came and told me. she remembers being at school and "knowing" that something was going on but was too young to be told. (kindergarten)
like you i spent any free time i had watching & listening.
a first responder is coming into my daughter's school this morning at the exact moment that he showed up the towers. he will talk to the students about that fateful day and how it's forever impacted him & our world.
sorry to write a novel. thanks for this post.
Absolutely, a day we will never forget. I was working as a paralegal and in Court on a custody case that day. My Husband called and told me that planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I get chills just typing this out. (((hugs)))
That day is a memory I will not forgot either. I was busy in the kitchen getting ready to go somewhere for a luncheon/meeting that day and DH called me into the family room to see the TV news report of the first jet hitting the WTC. Then everyone thought it was a horrible accident. It wasn't until I was at the meeting later at my friend's home and she had the TV turned on so we could watch the news as it happened, the second jet hit the WTC. The hostess was very emotionally upset then, for her daughter lives in Manhattan and she was so worried for her safety.
I was leading a group of students down the hall when I heard the news from a coworker. When the students were in music class we teachers gathered around a TV in disbelief. It was a scary day.
What a moving experience that must have been to be at ground zero. I think everyone should have that opportunity at least once in their life time. One day I hope to take my DD there, she was in the first grade when 9/11 happen. I remember having to keep the television off when she was in the room because if she would see it she thought when they showed pictures of the planes crashing into the buildings or the buildings collapsing it was happening all over again.
It is defiantly a day for remembering!
Shalom
Robin
I was at work (I work at a state university). As the news started to filter in, we went into one of the classrooms and turned on the news.
I was so proud of the way our country pulled together in the days following 9/11. It didn't matter if you were rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, black or white - all that mattered was that you were an American, and that we stood together.
Lisa
Celebrating and REMEMBERING so many people today.
Thank you for that beautiful post!
Teresa- Thanks for visiting my blog. Wow, yours is wonderful! I love the colors on this one and your photo editing skilz. The Christmas blog is very unique. I was looking at some of those tree decorating samples and was chuckling a couple of times thinking "where is the tree?" :)
You are very creative!
Thanks for sharing such honesty and love for Jesus- gosh I love that about the bloggies I follow.
Heidi@2 Thinks to Share
Remembering with you, andrea
I had just started my senior year in high school... watching everything on the news before school.. Its so sad that 8 years have already passed.
I'm not sure any of us will EVER forget where we were. I remember being at work and calling all of my children and my husband. I wanted to tell them all how much I loved them. I will never forget!
I for sure will never forget it, I can't believe it has already been so many years because it does feel like it was just yesterday! I had stayed home from my senior year of high school that day and I remember the tv was on and I was in and out of sleep and I thought it was just a nightmare at first until I woke up and realized it was really happening.
Thank you for your precious post. Not a day goes by that I don't say a little prayer for the families of those who lost loved ones that horrific day that began so normally.
I was sitting in my Special Ed.classroom when a college announced what was going on. Sadly it will always be etched in our minds.
Have a very blessed weekend!!!
wonderful post... this tragedy still haunts me to the core... and it still makes me angry...
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I love to meet new friends!
This day was a day I'll never forget either... so many emotions.
And I love your Christmas blog, so many beautiful trees!
I, like you, felt a tremendous sense of loss, a changing of our world that would never go back. I think every American will remember the exact second they heard the news. And we should. We should never forget.
God bless America and may America bless God!
It is true.. that America is forever changed and so are the lives of those who have to be left behind with the memories. May they find peace and healing.
~Silver
I was getting ready for work when they announced the first plane hit. I stayed glued to the news the rest of the day. 8 days later I was flying to Mall of America with uneasiness but it was uneventful. 7 mo. later we were in NYC and toured Ground Zero. they still had the platform up where you could view everything. There were soo many flowers, cards and flags sent from all over the world. I will never forget it.
I remember that day as if it were yesterday...the memory of watching people coming out of the buildings, of the buildings later collapsing, of the wonderful American men and women who came from every state to help, without being asked, but because they were Americans helping other Americans. We have continued to pray for the families of those lost on that fateful day, and we pray for our troops as they continue to fight for freedom. I pray that we continue to be a free nation, and not fall under those that would take that away from us. God bless you for your wonderful post, and God bless America.
Mary
Teresa,
I was working for AT&T call center where we were handling the many frantic phone calls from people searching for answers to see if we knew if their family members were alive based on the last cell phone call that was made.
It was a day that changed my life forever. Not being able to give people that answers that they sought broke my heart and it was one of the few days we had lots of people crying on the phones with customers.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
We were getting ready to start school when I went in to check weather. Just as I was turning off the TV is when the whole 9-11 started! I called my 3 older children to the room and told them school would start late and that we needed to pray for America! I was then pretty much watching and listening to the news all day. I remember because we lived in Chicago the eariness of no planes flying over head for several days.
On the 3 yr Anniversary of this terrible day our family was traveling through NYC and stopped at ground Zero.
Today our family took a few minutes before rushing into our day to remember the families who lost loved ones, and friends.
God Bless America land that I love stand beside her and guide her through the night with a lite from above!
Paula
I was getting ready to head for church to lead ladies' Bible study. I remember struggling with whether or not to cancel, but decided what better place to be than in the Word. I am so glad that as a nation we have not forgotten.
What a wonderful tribute to our heros! I pray no of us ever forgets!
~S
I just posted about this on my blog, so instead of writing everything again, please feel free to stop by and say Hi.
Have a great weekend!
Like most everyone else, I too remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news of the Twin Tower "bombings". There is nothing else they can be called but bombings. The moment those planes became aimed at American soil they were transformed from modes of transportation to bombs of destruction.
Thank you for sharing.
God Bless,
Mimmy
What a difficult day that was. It will never be forgotten. We must live each day as if it were our last. For only the Lord knows when our time here on earth is over.
Have a blessed weekend,
Sonya Lee
Like Lesli, I posted about this on my own blog. The short story is: I had turned off the tv, because Little House on the Prarie, what I would have been watching, was the episode in which Mary's baby and Alice Garvey died in the fire at the blind school. Couldn't stand to watch it. And look what I ended up watching instead.
We had just buried my 17 year old nephew the day before who died in a tragic accident. It seemed our world had already come crashing down. But as I stood in the hall at the hospital making rounds on 9/11, a nurse came down the hall and said a plane had hit the Twin Towers. Suddenly we were plunged into profound empathy for the victims and their families and as the details unfolded, the rescuers and their families. How can our great nation not have captured this evil person?
This is a very sad day for firefighters. My husband lost many "brothers" that day. I pray nothing like that happens again.
Lovely and thought provoking post, Teresa!! An extremely touching reminder! Thank you! God bless you! Janine XO
Explaining what we don't even understand. How true!
Never forget...ever.
Love, Jess
Remembering with you today!
I was getting ready to go play tennis when the first plane hit. I watched and then called my friends, I didn't want to play. I lost that arguement and went heavy hearted to the club. The University Club was on top of the Galleria and at some point we were told to evacuate because a threat had been called in. Once Roy and I were home I asked him wasn't this when we would have been in NYC for a work related conference? No he thought it was much later in the month. Several days later Roy came home with an email from the company putting on the conference that happened to be at Windows on the World in the WTC saying no one survived. Yes, we would have been there. The only reason we did not go is because I didn't have peace about us going. And the Lord was gracious enough to give me several times to practice this not experiencing HIs peace on some trips I said no to. Roy and I knew that God had kept us from being there and He had plans for us. Each year it sometimes gets to me if I begin thinking, how different things would have been if we had gone. Roy would be dead for sure and I don't know about me. Anyway, that is our 9/11 story.
I also remember that day so well and my daughter and I went to NYC a few years ago and were just awe struck at ground zero - it was an awesome experience - not necessarily good awesome - just awesome to try to imagine what those people lived through and what some (most) of them didn't. I remember looking up and down the streets and tried to imagine the dust and debris and people running like the showed on TV and was just horrified that something like that could happen to our country.
I'm glad you stopped by today and hope you'll come back - I like your blog too!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend -
Hi Teresa,
I was actually at work just a mile from the Pentagon and very much afraid. There was chaos and gridlock. I'm a federal employee and we were trapped with no place to go. When I finally found a way out later in the afternoon, I drove right past the burning Pentagon. When I came back the next day, the streets were eerily still filled with smoke. It is truly something I'll never forget and I can't believe its been 8 years.
That definitely is a day to remember...forever. My husband and I were walking the dog when the cell phone rang. It was my youngest son's best friend...checking to see if my hubby was safe. You see, DH was often in the Twin Towers on business. Thankfully, this was a day he was safely at my side. Sadly, he lost many friends and acquaintances that day...
We must keep this memory alive for all generations...
Jane (Artfully Graced)
Beautiful post Teresa. Thank you for stopping and reading my remembrance post. We must never forget what happened on that tragic day. Kathy
Thank you for the great post. It and some of these comments made me cry. So glad to have found you. Hope you'll stop in on me sometime.
keri
This is a beautiful tribute to the beloved families.
Beautiful post....it is definitely a day we will never forget, nor should we.
Touching.
Heartbreaking.
Thanks for sharing your story.
I so appreciate our American heroes.
I, like you read every thing there was to read. My mind just could not let it go...and still cannot.
I am not sure if you're Award Free, but i left you something on my Blog..~Silver
I remember exactly where I was that morning. I was asleep and my husband came into the room to wake me up and turned on the t.v. We were both speechless. At first I thought it was a preview to a new movie. We sat and watched and that is when we saw the other tower hit. I started crying and then I looked over in the bassinet at my new baby and got really scared. He was only a couple of months old and I new his world would never be anything like ours was when we grew up. That was a terrible day in our history. We will never forget!
This is very moving. That day changed me, too.
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a kind comment. You have a beautiful family and a very creative spirit.
what a beautiful post!
I hope nothing ever happens this awful again...but sadly I know that it most likely will
I'll never forget.
God bless you.
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