Ten years ago… My four kids and I were visiting friends
A sister friend...that everso important person who has been with you through college, and kids and life...one who is a *sister*...when you never had a true sister.
in New York…
The morning of the 11th…we packed up the car us two mothers with seven kids…and went apple picking.
And then we tried to donate blood.
because we didn’t know what to do.
We were in Albany. 2 hours from NYC.
I remember sleeping in a top bunk that night with my arms around my 9 year old. who would shake and cry every time a plane flew over. Jets circled and protected the area all night long.
I slept holding him for 4 nights.
We were scheduled to see my brother that week…and should have been In the city/NJ on the 11th. But I stole more time with my friend in Albany.
As we drove down toward the City two days later…The intensity of emotion was palpable the closer we got. Flags adorned cars, makeshift flags made of bed sheets were being held from the overpasses. Held by NY youth chanting USA.
It was eerie. It was beautiful. It was surreal.
My brother was on Wall Street that morning, ten years ago.
He was able to walk out of the smoking city…but he lost many friends and colleagues.
I remember his steeled jaw, as we stood on a grassy bank in his town, looking across the Hudson River, at the smoldering embers of where he once worked…where so many were lost. He was numb.
I remember the flyers strewn across his small town asking for donations of many things ...including dog food and dog boots for the rescue dogs.
I remember the silence of a whole town who lost so many.
It was a long and quiet drive back to Florida the next week.
The world had changed while we were gone.
I humbly bow my head in remembrance.
From ashes to hope…
9/11/2011
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