September 11

Normally I am a total newshound and have CNN or MSNBC on constantly. Today, I chose not to watch any of the 9/11 Memorial coverage. Not because I'm unpatriotic or un-feeling, I just decided to have a nice quiet day privately reflecting on those events. I remember what an incredibly beautiful fall day it was here in Alabama, the sky was impossibly blue. I remember getting KJ ready for her tumble-tots class, I remember Chris calling me and telling me a plane crashed into one of the towers, I remember having the little TV on in the kitchen. I remember Chris leaving work that morning, tearing up the garage stairs into the house so we could watch the media coverage together debating whether or not to get T from school (we wanted to be the ones to explain to her what happened; we didn't want her to hear it from someone else). Our immediate thoughts were of two friends who were NYPD -- Brian and Mike. Then Chris remembered his cousin Hope worked in one of the towers. Thankfully, Brian, Mike and Hope were all OK. I vividly remember being on the phone w/ my mother describing to her in detail what I was witnessing on TV (when the towers went down, so did communication). Then, as the days went on we learned the fates of people we knew: our friend Robert McCarthy (who left behind a 2-week old son) and his brother-in-law, the wife of the guy who owned the local pizza parlor, a young boy my brother went to high school with, a firefighter who lived down the street from me growing up, a classmate's older brother, my dental hygienist's husband. My brother was at Penn State at the time and we talked several times that day and the many days following letting each other know news we had, if any. It was very, very difficult on both of us being so far away from our family and friends. Chris and I both felt very helpless,