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REMEMBERING

9.11 is the Pearl Harbor of our generation.

I remember my mother talking about Pearl Harbor. She said everyone was in such shock…but the main thing she remembered in her later years was that at that time ….she was in her twenties then….that her main thought was that this meant a war was coming and that her new husband would be drawn into it.

9.11 is the Peal Harbor of our generation. We all remember where we were and what we were doing that morning. I was getting reading to go with a friend to her out-of-town doctor’s appointment. I was in the shower when the phone rang.

I rushed to answer it. It was my daughter in CT calling to assure me that she and her husband (who works quite close to New York) were ok. I didn’t know what she was talking about. She said, “TURN ON THE TV”. So I did.

I stood there transfixed as I watched the replay on CNN of the first plane. Shivering in my towel. I was speechless. My daughter kept saying, “Mom…Mom”. I finally answered her ……asking her for what little additional information she had.

Then the second plane arrived. I sat down.

My friend, Carol, and I did make it to her doctor’s appointment. Life always goes on. Tragedy can slow life, but it never stops, I’ve discovered. There was a young couple in the doctor’s office, and when my friend went in, I started talking to them. He was a Marine and had been alerted to report back to his base. He had made arrangements for his flight and was with his wife before going to the airport. He wasn’t real sure any flights were leaving St. Louis, but he was going to be there at the gates just in case. When they rose to leave, my heart rose in my throat and I said, “God bless you.”

He turned back to look at me. He had such a strange look on his face. Amazement that someone would say that out loud in a public place, perhaps…..perhaps, concern that the oath he had taken in peace time to serve his country was a very serious thing , indeed, now…and, perhaps, a realization that all Americans were united that day….Marines and middle-aged ladies in doctor’s offices included.

In Mid America, half a continent away, this tragedy was all that was talked about. American was united on that day and for a few years after. Of course, we are back to our old scappy selves now. But that’s what America and our Star Spangled Banner is all about anyway, isn’t it?

I always wonder where that Marine is now.