September is the month to celebrate. It always has been since the very day that I was born, then at 19 years old I had more reason to celebrate because I had been blessed with the reason that I wake up everyday, my son Bryan. He was born just 6 days after my birthday making him the best birthday present ever.
Those 6 days that fall in between our birthdays used to be filled with anticipation for Bryan when he was younger, because he knew that his was so so close. It was filled with anticipation for me because I love to give my favorite person presents and I never wanted to wait to see his precious little face light up when he finally opens them.
Now, those days that fill the time between our birthdays are filled with thoughts of one day in September, 2001. In fact, as it nears September, I being to feel my heart get a little bit heavier. This year marks the 10th anniversary of that horrific event, just 90 miles up the street. On September 11, 2001, the United States of America was attacked by terrorists in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. On that day lives were changed forever.
On September 11, 2001, I was a young mom, in my mid-twenties, divorced a couple of years, working in retail as a department manager. Most of my friends still had not had an children, but everything that I did was for mine or with him in mind. When a managers meeting was just getting ready to start and our Human Resources manager came running in to tell us that a plane hit the World Trade Center, I couldn't fully comprehend
UNTIL we all went into the break room and watched on the TV what the news would end up repeating over-and-over and what every American will never be able to erase from their brains. I remember my heart feeling like it was physically breaking, the heaviness in my chest (the same heaviness that I get every September now) was making me weak in the knees; the sadness was over-whelming, but I didn't cry. I watched. I watched and was scared, boy, was I scared.
Was I that naive that I thought that this would or could never happen to us?!? I needed to find out how Bryan was; I called this school. He was in second grade and was about to turn 7 that year. The administration had told me that they announced what had happened, but wanted to keep things as normal as possible, but I was allowed to pick him up if I wanted to. I opted not to, but I had to think about how I was going to handle this once I had picked him up from after-school care. I was so young and didn't exactly have any answers myself.
I asked Bryan the other night, 'What do you remember about 9/11?'. He went on to tell me exactly where he was sitting and what was being taught, but then he said, I remember not really caring when I heard. A very honest answer and in reality, I am sure that he didn't, then he saw the TV footage and had a million questions just like the rest of us.
I am always very real with Bryan, so I didn't sugar coat. I wasn't going to hide that there are bad people out there, I wasn't going to say that this wasn't going to happen again, but I was going to make sure that Bryan knew that you still had to treat people the way you would want to be treated. Just because there are absolutely rotten people out there, let's not pretend that there aren't, we have to be bigger, more united and stronger then they are. There are people who are always going to be jealous; jealous of what Americans have and represent, but if we stand together then we will over-come.
September 12, 2001 there was a thunder & lightning storm. Bryan woke up screaming. He thought we were being bombed. It broke my heart. The sleeplessness didn't last long, but I'll never forget.
Since then, New York has become one of my favorite places to visit. It really reminds a person how very small one is in the big scheme of things; something I think everyone need to be reminded once-and-a-while.
We have gone to Ground Zero, the name that has been given to the site where The Twin Towers once stood. We have paid our condolences to those lives that were lost and changed forever. We have mourned the American soldiers lost in battle defending us. We prayed and still do for the soldiers to come home safely to their families.
I hope that the family and friends of victims and all those who had to endure the pain of September 11, 2001 have grown from this tragedy and become stronger people. This year is only the 10th anniversary, you will never be forgotten and are all considered heroes in my eyes.
