Tuesday, September 6, 2011

I am really not good at this

Well, it has been almost a year since my last post. It has been a crazy year, with ups and downs. We have welcomed another daughter to our family, and said goodbye to other family members. So what got me writing again?

9/11. The 10 year anniversary is this week, and I just can't get it out of my mind. Maybe it will get me back into the blogging world.

In 8th grade, my history teacher had us do a project in which we interview family members on days they would never forget. For my grandparents it was Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII, for my parents it was the assassination of JFK and the first man landing on the moon. I remember thinking at the time, "how could anyone remember a day that exactly?" My grandmother could tell me all the details about where she was when she heard about Pearl Harbor, even 60 years later. I thought it would be cool to have a day burned in my memory like that... and now I know its not as exciting as it seemed.

On 9/11/2001, I was in High School, Junior year. My alarm went off at 6am CA time, and the first plane hitting was on the news. I went to talk to my parents, then turned on the tv just in time to watch the second plane hit. Everything seemed to freeze, and even the news anchor didn't know what to say. My whole world changed in the moment. I dont remember many other specifics during the day, just listening to the radio at school. We were all in shock. It was the first time any of us had experienced a moment like that, where the whole world just seemed to stop.

my most vivid memory is actually of the Friday after. My boyfriend at the time took me to see a movie, and at the end a boy died. I remember everything about 9/11 just hitting me all in that one moment. We stood in the parking lot of that theater and I cried for almost an hour. I just couldn't believe what had happened.

10 years later I am the mom of 2 girls... and it is hitting me hard again. Maybe it is because I am old enough to really understand what happened. I look at my girls and my heart just breaks, because I want to shield them from any sort of harm. Maybe it is because I am living in Israel now, and I know that Americans have forgotten so easily what it is like to be attacked, yet it is something I still struggle with every day.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims, who are still suffering 10 years later... and my mind goes to all those who lost their lives that day, and the people they never got to become.

No comments: