9/11

Seven years ago today, I was still a single mom, dealing with my sick 2 year old. Evan had been up most of the night with a raging case of the honest to goodness flu, the respiratory kind that makes it so hard to breathe. It was making his asthma really act up, and I remember being afraid to go to sleep at more than a doze, terrified that he would just stop breathing all together. I had been awake for hours when I turned on the Today show in an effort to keep my eyes open. I vividly remember the breaking news report of the first plane crash into the Trade Center. They were broadcasting with a reporter live on the scene when the second plane hit. I remember having the stupid thought "What are the chances of that happening twice on the same day?" Unable to follow the thought that someone would do this on purpose, my brain not yet functioning in terrorism mode.

Struggling to push some breakfast into Evan, I heard out of the corner of my brain that another plane had hit the Pentagon. As a fairly new mother, my maternal instincts went into high gear at this point. Is there anything more helpless than feeling as though there might be a threat to your child, and not being able to do a darn thing about it?

We had to drive to the doctor's later in the morning, and I remember being so nervous. It was still too early to know what was going on, and the not knowing was horrible. The sound of silence in the sky is something I will never forget. So eerily strange to not hear airplanes overhead.

Later at the pharmacy, people were shell shocked. People were scurrying around trying to get home quickly, trying to lay in supplies in case something else happened.

Did we ever get that security back we had on September 10th, 2001? Aren't we still waiting for the next thing to happen? Aren't we still worried about the level of safety our kids will have when they inherit this country?

My prayers and thoughts today are with the families of the 9/11 victims. I hope it is getting easier for them to get through the day as time passes. I hope they know that we will not forget, and that they are still in our prayers.