Ten years ago today - No Facebook, No iPods, No Twitter… It was a different world. We’ve all changed - we dared to rebuild and life went on. We have witnessed amazing bravery, love, courage, and agony.
Just For Today, let us love one another and see where it will bring us
On 9/10/2010 I was a different person. I had not yet turned 50. My mother was alive. I’d just quit smoking for the 3rd or 4th time. I had a system for working the business Alpha-Interiors my husband Vin and I own. I’d begun to enjoy the fruits of being an entrepreneur - I was choosing the time of day when I’d do my share of the work for the business.
I had high cholesterol and needed to increase exercise, lose weight, and stop living like I was going to last forever. I had a few medical conditions as a result of taking a diet drug that was removed from the market and the weight piled back on after I stopped taking the “magic” pill. I was afraid that my foolish attempt to lose weight with a magic pill would bring my life to a sudden end.
I was intentionally working on eliminating refined sugars and white flour from my system. To help me in my efforts to stay off cigarettes I was walking our young dog several times a day (actually she was walking me). Also, I spent several hours a week working at The Great American Stamp Store in Westport, CT as a sales clerk. The work at the store was a delight to me. I loved every minute.
We were preparing for a guest artist who was coming to teach at the store the next day. The classes were booked up solid as the guest’s art rubber stamps were a popular commodity in the store. Then next day, I believe just one person who had signed up came to the classes. It was a solemn afternoon as we listened to the radio learned new techniques to apply to our rubber stamp art together.
Just about a year later, I met a young mother who was a 9/11 widow. We became friends. She was pregnant with a second child on 9/11/2001 and had another young child as well. Knowing her opened my world and my heart to meanings and appreciation for my own life that I am yet unable to put into words. Today I’m reminded of a poem I wrote as a result of knowing such a courageous woman. I will share it sometime if I can find where I put it for safekeeping.
DeniseC: Thanks for posting this. I hope you find your poem so you can post it as well.
While I have never met a victim of this tragedy, I did have friends in New York who spent the day desperately searching for their children who turned out to be okay. I also spoke to my mom who passed this time last year. The tragedy was stirring up memories of WWII when she experienced the bombings in England as a member of the Canadian Red Cross.
Ten years ago, I too was not yet 50…still young??? Just recently I joined a group on here for “Seniors with Diabetes”??? So much has changed.
I can only hope and pray that there has been healing for your friend and the other victims of that day. I also remember those who have given their lives over the past ten years to help to ensure that something like this never happens again!! Joanne
I am another person that was not yet 50 on 9/11. I did not know anyone personally either, but my boss where I worked at that time had a bunch of friends that perished in the World Trade Center.
That is one of those days that we will never forget. I was at work when someone heard about it on the radio. One of the guys that I worked with had staggered hours and had not left for work when he heard. He brought a little TV in and we all gathered around the TV listening. At one point, they evacuated the Capitol and I was concerned about my cousin that works there. My boss John was worried about his friends. I worked in Harrisburg at the time. Someone from one of our other offices came over in the afternoon like she did several times a week. She said it was very eery driving across the bridge because no one was on it. I lived in Mechanicsburg and was within walking distance of the Navy Depot. Between the Navy Depot, Three Mile Island, the War College in Carlisle and the Army Supply Depot in New Cumberland, we had a lot of military planes flying over - it was very, very creepy to hear nothing but those planes.
I recently talked to a guy that was working next to the Pentagon that day. He said he was on the roof of the building he was working on and saw all the smoke. He didn’t know what it was until they came off the roof for lunch - everyone else had left the building but didn’t bother to tell the guys on the roof. Panic set in when he wasn’t able to get hold of his wife so he didn’t know if she was OK or their kids were OK.
I knew a guy that was a fireman in Mechanicsburg and he went to NYC immediately to help out. I often think about him and wonder if he is one of the ones that ended up with cancer because of helping out.
My thoughts are with everyone today, on 9/11. Though I’m Canadian, I lost someone I loved in the World Trade Center. I was 16 years old. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how that experience effected my neighboring Americans, and my American family. Thank you for sharing this post. I’ve been up all morning (PST) watching the 9/11 Anniversary Memorial coverage on CNN.
9/11 is a day I will never forget, even though I do not live in the States. It’s my birthday and it has changed my life in some sort of strange way too. My toughts are with you, especially with those amongst you who have lost loved ones.
Peetie - thanks for commenting on my post. I am still trying to figure out how to network on TuDiabetes… The blogging I get, the commenting is where I get confused.
I am sorry about your loss with your mom at this time last year. My mom passed this time of year too. It has been seven years now - and it is hard to believe time had the audacity to go on - though I am immensely grateful life goes on.
This is the first I’ve logged into Tudiabetes since I posted the other day and was surprised to find comments. I hope this goes to the 'right" spot…
