9.11.01

.my little tribute.

 

so today marks 11 years since

that horrible day.

everyone has such distinct memories.

this was mine:

 

 

pablo and i were headed to work...

at the time we worked together in

natomas at Earthlink (internet).

we heard "breaking news" on the radio.

i can't remember at all what they said,

but it seemed like every single car on

HWY 5 went from 70/80 mph down to about 30.

it was like the whole world was in slow motion.

we went to work, nobody was calling in about

their usual billing problems, or their

screaming and yelling "my internet won't work".

so we sat in the conference room and all watched

on the tv and cried. i cried a lot.

thinking of all those moms, dads & kids...

everyone.

such a tragic day.

then the weeks and months to follow,

it was like everyone was suddenly much nicer.

everyone would go out of their way to be

more friendly, say "hi" to strangers,

open doors for people and just, slow down.

every car had a sticker too.

"remember 9.11"

"never forget 9.11"

"9.11 always in our hearts"

 

these past 2-3 days i've been going over

all kinds of materials to present it to my kids.

not easy, at all!

omg the videos i watched had me in tears.

even today while i was showing them to the kids,

i cried even more.

its like these strong emotions that seem

really fresh, came right back up.

i guess being a mom now,

(and having lost a parent)

 i can actually sympathize for

those families left behind

who lost someone they loved.

my kids looked at me as though i was craZy lol

i'm sure they will never come close to

understanding the impact it had on the world

in such a split second.

 

extremely loud, incredibly close..

great movie.

its about a boy who goes on a journey

to find something that keeps him linked

to his father who died in the towers.

very emotional but great storyline!!

if you haven't seen it, today would

be a great day to do so.

 

so today we learned a lot about the attacks.

we paid tribute to the victims,

we prayed for their families,

we visited the memorial site set

up at Cal Expo, sacramento.

 

we interviewed a lady who was running

the tribute at cal expo.

her name was Joan.

we asked:

"what were you doing when you found

out about the attacks on 9.11.01?"

her reply:

"i was helping a friend at the hospital

who was about to have surgery.

we saw on the tv's that there were

2 planes that had crashed into

the towers and it was a possible

terrorist attack.

then the hospital shut down all the

tvs and/or radios so that it wouldn't

upset any of the patients.

so i had to wait a few hours until

my friends surgery was over before

i could call my grandson who was in

new york at the time.

he was going to college at NYU and

had just arrived 4 days before the attacks.

he was ok thank God.

he told me that he got involved

with a lot of other people from

the college to help the fire department

across the street.

6 of those firefighters had died in the collapse.

they were able to all help feed the department

sandwiches and other stuff.

my grandson still can't go back to New York though.

it makes him very sick to be there.

he also lost a few of his teachers too"

 

then we interviewed a man who also

was helping with the tribute.

his name was Butch.

his reply:

"well, mine is pretty short. i was sleeping.

i didn't find out until hours after it happened"

LOL

the kids thought that was hilarious ;)

 

one thing that i can say is much different

about today vs. 11 years ago.

everyone seems to have forgotten how

the world seemed to pull together.

how nice they were.

how thoughtful they were of their neighbors,

of their friends, their family.

those stickers are gone from our cars too.

i'll be on the lookout for a new sticker...

i think its important we never forget that day.

as devestating as it was,

it brought so many people closer together.

 

.erin.