Wednesday, September 11, 2013

I will never forget!  Today marks the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attack on our country.  Twelve years later, I still am in disbelief that this happened to our great nation.  This will be one of those moments I will forever remember what I was doing when this happened.

We were living in Utah at the time so we were two hours behind.  Mark was fifteen months old.  That night he decided to be "up all night" along with myself.  He had always been a good sleeper but for some reason, he wasn't that night.   I remember just being exhausted. I finally got him back to bed (a little after 7 am).  Steve got up and just left the house without a word.   We still had no clue what was going on.  I remember being angry with him.  He didn't even say goodbye.  I flipped on the kitchen tv and I saw this unfolding live.  I was watching Katie Couric.  I was just standing there stunned when I saw LIVE the second plane hit the tower.  Just then, the front door opened and Steve walked in.  He handed me a Starbucks coffee.  He said, "I knew you had a rough night so I thought you could use a good cup of coffee".  He then asked me what was wrong and I told him.  We stood there watching the tv. Stunned.  The older kids were still sleeping.  I didn't know what to do.  Do I send them to school?  What?  Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime.  The decision was made to send them to school and Steve went off to work.  Did I fell stupid being so mad at him.  Unfortunately, I had to wake Mark up a little after 8 to drive the older kids off to school.  I  was glued to the tv.  Then the pentagon happend, then the plane in Pennsylvania.  I just sat and cried.  Over the next week, I was glued to the tv coverage.  One moment that stands out for me is when Ashley Banfield was reporting.  She was standing by a wall where people were posting pictures of their loved ones that were missing.  I can't remember if this person was missing or among the lost, but she came across the name of one of her friends and she just started to cry during her live  report.  So sad.  By the way,  after that sleepless night, Mark never had a rough night again.  Twelve years later, he sleeps like a rock!

We were living in Sandy at the time.  On the one year anniversary, Sandy City Hall had a memorial.  As far as I know, they still do it to this day.  I think they call it the Healing Place.  On their front lawn, they place a flag for every person lost that day and a flag representing all the countries who lost someone.  Mark was obsessed with flags so we went down there.  It was beautiful to see.  Very somber.  Of course, Mark loved all the flags.

  It was very somber standing there. It was windy that day so we just stood there watching and listening to them.

My little guy was just mesmerized by all the flags.  

Last summer, Steve and I went to New York for our anniversary and we visited the memorial.  It was so hard to stand there at the site knowing that so many lives were lost that day.  We must NEVER forget.


God Bless America.