I knew September 11 was coming up. And I knew it was going to be on a Tuesday, just like it was 11 years ago. But both Bob and I have been all wrapped up in our busy lives—much like everyone else, I would guess. Plus, especially last week, we were preparing to travel to our dear friends’ home in Asheville, North Carolina, for a much needed and much anticipated long weekend. Every so often, while we were packing, and while we were on our flight 37,000 feet in the air on September 7, I remembered that September 11 was coming up. And then I forgot about it.
Bob and I had the most glorious weekend. Great friends, wonderful food, long hikes to breathtaking waterfalls, kayaking over a glassy lake and a couple of quiet hours here and there with glasses of fine wine and great conversation, laughter and just catching up. It was a truly marvelous weekend and it all went by too fast.
Even as our mini-vacation had ended and we were driving back from Asheville to the airport in Charlotte, it never came to mind that September 11 was the next day. We dropped off our rental car, and all the courtesy van driver could talk about on the way to the terminal was the DNC Convention last week—all the chaos it caused at the airport and everywhere around Charlotte. We boarded our flight and were airborne and my only thoughts were getting home safely, and maybe that the U.S. Open Men’s Tennis Final would still be on when we arrived home, which it was.
Today is September 11, and I was making our bed just as I was eleven years ago, at almost the exact same time. The TV station I was watching started playing the recording of the terrorist attacks of that fateful morning and I stopped making the bed, my eyes stared at the television and my feet were glued to the floor—just like September 11, 2001. All the emotions I felt on that day came back and again, the tears rolled down my cheeks with rage and horror that our country was being violently attacked and so many people lost their lives. Now the tragedy hits even closer to home as we have become friends with folks who lost family members that day, and we are amazed at how they can cope as each year passes.
It is said that America’s citizens are quick to forget so many things that have happened in our history, and I guess that is true in some cases. I am so grateful that I was watching a channel this morning that took the time to show the evil events of that day again to snap me out of my own little world and make me remember September 11, 2001. I hope they do the same every year. May we all never forget.
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