As spoken by Todd Beamer, Flight 93, 9.11

September 11, 2001…I started the day with thoughts of a dear friend who was celebrating a 30-something birthday; those thoughts were quickly replaced with images of chaos, confusion and destruction. A branding of terror that seared itself upon our collective hearts, silent scars which tell a story that never should have been written.

…the first date my children will remember for the rest of their lives with the words “I remember what I was doing when I heard…”, much like, I suppose, my earliest “like” memory–the ’72 summer Olympics in Munich.

I remember thinking “the sky is falling” as I studied our own azure sky 670 miles away from what would eventually be known as Ground Zero, and I wanted to duck and cover but there was nowhere safe to hide…the vulnerability, the underbelly exposure, wondering how to protect our children?

The strangest memory, perhaps, is recalling the song “American Pie” playing over and over in my mind’s ear….”the day the ‘music’ died…” I googled the lyrics just now, and wow, although written about something entirely different, so much of it “fits” 9-11…bizarre.

Pausing to remember the living and the dead, grateful to discover moments of beauty when we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Many moments of beauty–lives of beauty–are honored in this week’s Blogging Chicks Carnival. If you have a few moments to spare, you’ll be blessed.

Pin It on Pinterest