We remember. 10 years ago this week...

I already had a post like this this year.  Our memories of September 11th come so soon after losing a son, I remember thinking, wow, my own grief seems so insignificant now, because now a nation is grieving.

On September 11th, 2001, I was at home in a little suburb of Cincy with my 3 children, still recovering from the birth and loss of a son a month before.  I was on the computer monitoring a parenting chat room when someone said to turn on the TV, something had just happened in New York City.

I turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center.  I called Tom at work (he was at Walmart, as electronics department manager there in one of the stores in Cincinnati, Ohio.)  He wanted to know what was happening.  He eventually got the TVs at Walmart turned to coverage of the terrorist attacks.

I sat at home and cried while explaining to Michael, 4, that bad things were happening.  Benjamin, 2, and Emilie, 1, were not capable of understanding even that much yet.  We saw the plane hit the Pentagon, or at least the immediate aftermath.  We heard rumors of a 4th plane, and how the White House would be next.  I saw the first tower fall and turned off the TV and went for a walk with the kids.  I just knew that so many people had to have died because they didn't have time to get out of the building, even with the incredible efforts of the firemen and emergency workers, and how many must have died in that moment.  I knew the second tower would fall.

I had a brother in New York City and during this time was following the news on our church website to see if the missionaries were ok.  They were.

We followed the news the rest of the day and the week, how the plane went down in Pennsylvania.  (a few years later, when we lived in PA, we drove near the site)  We saw people jumping out of buildings rather than be burned alive.  We saw the rescue efforts.  We heard the stories of amazing heroism.  I saw the city around me rise in love and united efforts to support our country in this time of sorrow. 

I know we all have memories of this time.  Remember.  Remember how you felt, and then how you reacted, not just that day, but praying for our troops and our leaders, helping our neighbors, waiting for news of friends and loved ones, for the months and now years afterward.

It was a time of pain, and horror, but I think our country emerged as a stronger nation because of it.  To bring it home, I know that our time with the pregnancy and life of a child who was going to die, was unimaginable to some.  However, our family is stronger because of it.  Each of us is a better person.  I think that September 11th, 2001 was the same way for the most of the country.  I think that most of us became better because of how we reacted to the tragedy.  United We Stand.