Reflections on 9/11

 

On this 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we remember the victims and their loved ones with heavy hearts.

 

It was only a few days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 that I found the invitation discarded in my inbox and realized the implications. A trade show with breakfast at Windows on the World, on the top of WTC Tower 1. I had planned to attend until, a few days earlier, my colleague told me he was "too busy with work" to make the drive down to the city. He wasn't going to go, so I decided not to go either - a little disappointed, in fact, because I had never been to Windows on the World. Set the invitation aside and moved on.

 

Everyone at Windows on the World that morning perished.

 

Finding the invitation, I realized that I was one of the lucky ones who, if not for a 'near miss' - a change of plans, an alarm that didn't go off, a detour or missed train that made them late - would have been there that horrible morning ten years ago.

 

My children were two and four at the time. My husband would have been left to explain why mommy wasn't coming home. My kids would have grown up without a mother. When I came home that evening I gathered them up, sat with them on the couch, and cried silent tears - so sad for the victims and still, so thankful for that capricious decision a few days before 9/11. 

 

I spent a lot of time thinking about all of the "what ifs" in the weeks and months following 9/11. I remember being grateful for so many things. I also remember thinking that my kids at least would have known how much their mommy loved them - thanks to my scrapbooks. Sometimes I look at my "scrap stuff" and think my hobby could some day become my great-great-grandchild's nightmare ("What do we do with all these books? We don't know any of these people but someone sure spent a lot of time on them..."). But on days like today I am reminded of exactly why it's important.

 

So many of us have 'near misses' in our lives. You pause, maybe send up a silent prayer of thanks, and move on.

 

Because of 9/11, I am reminded each year just how fortunate I am to have been given the gift of another year. I am so very grateful for the reminder - because it is so easy to forget.

 

Truth is, none of us knows how much or how little time we may have. We can just be thankful for the here and now.

 

We hug our kids.

 

We kiss our spouses.

 

We call our moms.

 

And we mourn for those who were lost that terrible, tragic day.

 

- Peg

 

 

Comments

[Michelle Hernandez]

1.

Wow- I pause for words but there are none- wonderfully written- thank you for this post.

[Izzy]

2.

This is beautifully written and from the heart. It shows.

[Izzy]

3.

This is beautifully written and from the heart. It shows.

[n tobin]

4.

Thank you so much for sharing that story, so often we forget how lucky we are. My heart still goes out to all that we lost. God Bless America!

[Mary Ann Jenkins]

5.

Another reminder of how fragile life really is.
Thank you.

[Donna Woods]

6.

Thank you so much for sharing. Chills went all over me. I am sure you wept as you typed this. God Bless America

[Kate Vickers]

7.

Wow! What a story, Peg, and beautifully written too. You are very lucky indeed, as are your family. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Kathy P]

8.

Wow, Peg....God was smiling down on you that day. I am sure that you think about it every single day. Proof that we have to live life to the fullest for we never know when it may end.

[jengd]

9.

So glad to hear yours was a miss and not a "shouldn't have been there but was." I've been lucky in that everyone I know that had anything to do with the WTC was a miss and not the other way around. How that's possible statistically, I don't know, but I'm thankful for it.

[Samantha T]

10.

Thank you for sharing your story.

[Liz Qualman]

11.

Thank goodness for small miracles like yours! Sitting in airport right now about to fly back to Denver...

[Julie Shearer]

12.

Amen to that.

[Katie G]

13.

Beautiful words....I am sitting here with tears in my eyes watching the coverage and thank God you made that decision....life can be so random sometimes we have to really sit back and appreciate the time we have had....and what we have been given. Thank you for sharing!

[tania willis]

14.

wow, peg! i had no idea! (((HUGS))) what an amazing testament and reminder.