it is even possible that it has been ten years? ten years.
yesterday i watched a special about the children of 911. in this particular interview, there was a ten year old whole mother was three months pregnant when the attacks happened, there was a thirteen year old who barely remembers his father and then a twenty one year old girl who was eleven when her mother died that tragic day. and as incredibly sad as i was as i was drawn into the program and how i hung on every word of these three children, we'll call them, as they talked about the memories of the parent they lost, i could not help but empathise most with the young lady who had her mother for eleven years.
because she remembered. she remembered the birthday parties. she remembered her moms smile. her voice.
ten years ago, i was a live in nanny. (some things never change...) and was working my first job out of college. i was working as an early interventionist with children birth to three years of age. i worked in a typically developing daycare and my kids would come into the class room and i served as their therapist. it was just another day and we had just made it down the long hallway and outside for our thirty minutes of playtime when the director of the school who stayed in her office for the most part came literally running outside with her hands moving in a rapid motion. working with special needs children there was often an emergency or something of the severity that deserved an alarm, but this day was different. she looked scared. she was a strong, direct woman who could handle children of all severity of needs and was good at her job.
"jessica! jessica! get all the kids back inside and stay in the classroom! a plane just hit the world trade center!"and as scared as she was and her alarm made me instantly scared. i was not well traveled or cultured, naive. i had never been to new york, had never really given "the twin towers" much thought or any thought. and i remember thinking, "wow, that is a terrible accident."
i mean, planes crash. cars crash. tragedies happen. i was also twenty two and was clueless about the world in which i lived.
that day i became educated. and i learned and devoured the news. CNN. MSNBC. any piece of information i could get my hands on, my eyes to focus on through the tears. i called my friends to make sure they were okay. i told them that i loved them.
i learned that some tragedies are not an accident. some people are not good. and life is not always cotton candy clouds.
but i also learned that though tragedy is when people are forced to become stronger. strength does come to the weary. the sun still shines. god is still good. that life is fleeting. and always tell the ones you love, that you do love them.
ten years have come and gone. and we remember. and will never forget.
where were you when the world stopped turning?
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