9/11

Gone, but not forgotten.

There is probably not a single person in America, that was old enough to remember and watch what happened on 9/11, that can't tell you exactly where they were when they heard we were under attack.  I remember that day vividly.  Phil will tell you he was loaded on a plane to go to NTC.  They finally had to get off the plane and fly out the next day.  I was waking up in Phoenix, far from family and friends, to a new life, a new country.  I watched the second plane hit, I watched the towers fall, and I couldn't believe it was happening.  I was getting ready for work, like I did every Tuesday, at the NY&CO in the Fiesta Mall.  When I got there, my manager and I were rattled, the reality settling in, and wondering if Phoenix would be hit and where.  There was a message on the phone from the offices in New York that morning.  They were screaming to get out, close all the stores, we have lost all our sister stores and our NY&CO in the Trade Center Towers.  Go home, we don't want to lose anymore employees today.  My first thought that day was is my Mom and Dad ok and my next, when is Phil going to war?  Will he be safe?  I haven't allowed myself to watch the reruns of the events in the last 10 years.  It was too painful for me, even though I didn't know a single person who lost their life that day.  Today I've watched and remembered and felt again the total disbelief that it could have possibly happened.  Our country changed that day, and I hope it was for the better.  My personal life changed the day Phil shipped out to Iraq, before the war even started.  Too this day I haven't watched those imagines, because it was too scary for me.  Phil has lost friends to the ensuing wars, started on 9/11.  His company was the first of any American forces to cross into Iraq when the war started.  Today I dressed for church in red, white and blue, hung the only flag I had on hand, and asked that we not forget about the troops we've already lost, their families and the troops that are still fighting and their families, as well as the fallen on 9/11.  Gone, but definitely NOT forgotten.  May God bless the family and friends of all the people we lost on 9/11.