A Loving Memorial

[cherokee_dove]

Was hoping someone else would have started this thread up by now.

As most of you know, today is 9/11. The anniversary of the day the Twin Towers fell.

As a catharsis for the board members, if you wish to get something off your mind or anger out of your heart about that day; or just wish to send a prayer out for them, feel free to do so.


i will start it off by saying, i lost my best friend from high school that day.

i was watching it all unfold on the tv, thinking thank God; that she had decided to stay back here in Ohio with her family on a longer visit.

i called up to our home town, to ask her is she had seen what was going on at the Towers. Her brother answered, and said "T, she isn't here; she went back to work." i asked him if they had seen the news yet. He said no, why? All i could say because i was in shock, was; "Its best you turn it on quick, but be warned; prepare for the worst". And i started crying.

She worked on the 27th floor of the 2nd Tower. She never came home again.

i just came back from a memorial for her, that is set up by the high school we graduated from. The crowds keep getting bigger each year, bringing in more people than even knew her.

i asked one of those people why they were there, since they never knew her. The man said, "We may not have known her, and we may not have been in New York City that day; but this is just our way of saying, "We remember and will never forget the people who died on that day."


God Bless all those that died, mourn, and live with the memories of the day that changed America.

 

[SweetGigi]

It is hard for me to talk about what happened that day. Thank you, however, for starting this.

My prayers for you and her family.

 

[cherokee_dove]

It is hard for me to talk about what happened that day. Thank you, however, for starting this.

My prayers for you and her family.

(((((Hugs))))) i understand completely.

 

[graceanne]

 

[Netzach]

What happened was horrible, and I'm just so tired of seeing it being used to make any other point.

People going about a workday anywhere should never have to be afraid of anything like this.

 

[00Syd]

I was in school. Nobody told us what was going on, but we kept hearing sirens during class, more than usual (My school is right next door to a hospital). Someone joked that the cops must have forgotten their doughnuts. None of the kids knew what was going on, but eventually it became clear that something had happened, all the teachers kept coming in and whispering to each other. Finally one of our teachers came in and told the class that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I, along with the rest of the class, assumed that it was a small single person plane, and that it was an accident, like that time that a plane crashed into The Empire State.

Soon parents started showing up and taking their kids out of school. We still didn't know what happened. My mother showed up and we left and there were thousands of people walking down 1st ave towards the bridges to get home, since the subways were stopped. We got home and turned on the TV and we saw it, and my first thought was that someone was just panning the camera up to make it LOOK like they were falling.

I don't think I was old enough to have any real feelings about it.

I was mostly pissed off that they closed every school below 14th st... and my school was on 15th st.

 

[FFOTS4Life]

My prayers and thoughts go out to all of those who lost loved ones that day.

My best friend's dad was an electrician. He was working on the remodel of the wing where the plane struck the pentagon. He sadly didn't make it home...and my friend and I sat on my couch here in California watching it all unfold. She just knew her dad didn't make it through.

It was terrible watching my friend go through that knowing she couldn't be there in person.

 

[Homburg]

A very good friend of mine was working inside the Pentagon when that plane hit. Bloody fortress that it is, he didn't even realise that something had happened aside from alrms going off.

I did not know anyone inside, and didn't really know anyone affected by it. That has changed. There is now someone in my life that I've come to care about a great deal that was right there, and showed strongly the cut of his jib that day. It humbles me, and every time I see a video I think that he was there, and in more danger than I can accurately imagine.

He has a few things that he kept as reminders, unassuming and humble, but the story behind them is amazing. While the overall event is a stark reminder of the evil of which man is capable, the small stories that occurred that day, and the follow-up, of all that is good in mankind.

 

[Mrs. Sanj]

http://www.candleandribbon.org/images/9-11-01candlesimplelarge1.gif

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I was at work in Tampa that morning. One of my co-workers alerted us that a plane had hit the Towers, and we pulled out a television and watched in awe, disgust and sorrow as the second plane hit the second Tower. At that point, it became clear to us that this was not an accident but a planned event. I remember sitting there as time slowly passed, nothing that I could say but, "Bastards." "Bastards." "Bastards." I think I must have said it more than a hundred times... actually, just whispered it to myself. I still hear it in my head each time I'm reminded of that day.

I'm not a praying kind of guy, but I hope that each of those who died, and especially those who gave their lives trying to help others, rests peacefully, and that their families and friends remember them with love and pride.

 

[Lamont Cranston]

A painful day...

One friend lost in the towers and one relative who luckily had a meeting out of the office that morning. Two friends on the other side of the Pentagon who cannot forget rushing to the site of the crash. And then there is the friend among those caught on tape on flight 93. That is the hardest one for me. They probably saved many lives. None of them -- or us -- deserved any of that.

My prayers are with all of us who were touched by hate that day and try not to hate in return for the actions of those responsible. My hope is that we can all come together to find better solutions to these problems. (And that sounds trite even to me but I don't have better way to express it at the moment. Sorry.)

LC

 

[LilyBart]

The Pentagon is in my hometown. Just a mile from my my family home.
I watched the dedication today of the memorial there to 9/11. So very moving and beautiful.

My mother told me today how they had been sitting on the deck, enjoying a beautiful morning, when they suddenly heard the explosion of the the plane hitting the Pentagon. And not knowing what had happened.

Then, later, (after several days of being unable to reach my mother by phone), finally knowing that she was OK. But I remember her describing the smell that permeated everything. It was ugly, really.

My brothers and I urged her to move closer to us. But she said "no, this is my home."

I appreciate home. Maybe.

Actually, I'm not sure what I want to say. I am sad for my Mom. But I appreciate her will to stay in her home.

But I am sad for everyone who lost a loved one. I lost one, as an eventuality. So this event means a lot to me.

~LB

 

[Etoile]

I remember that day much too well. Every bit of it, permanently etched into my consciousness. But not as a memorial...as the fear I felt that day. (I was working a couple of blocks from the White House then, and there were reports of attacks all over town.) I don't want to remember the fear, or the queasy feeling in my stomach all day. I want to remember the people, but not the horror. Wish it worked that way.

 

[graceanne]

K called me before I left the house to take A to preschool. He said someone flew a plane into one of the towers. At that point we didn't know what was going on - I figured it was a small plane and the pilot was drunk or something. Got A on the MAX (lightrail) and was on our way. There was a lady there who works at the courthouse down town, who was on her way home. She filled me in on the rest of what was going on.

Me and A got off the MAX and went home - I didn't want her at school that day. I expected rioting, and figured I needed to get out of town, so I went and spent the day with my mom. We just watched the TV and cried. That night, when they started letting the trains through again, they went thought three times. I woke up, each time, in a cold sweat and on my to my girls room. I thought it was a plane and I was going to lay on my girls so that when it hit they might make it. Luckily, I'd wake up enough to realize it was just the train before I got to their room and woke them.

 

[Kajira Callista]

I try not to remember what that day felt like. Yhe kids have their reminder in school which I agree is a good thing and easier then my having to explain the day through my eyes. I do not say a word about the day and just try to let it pass.
Coping mechanism of some sort i'm sure. *shrug*

 

[chauderlos]

I remember that day, too. At first, here in France, the news were scarce, and it seemed that it was just an other carbomb like the one that had struck a few years previously (in so far a bombing can be "just" an other bombing).
Then, when I came home (France is 6 hours ahead of New-York)... The images on TV were horrible.
I think that day, we all felt American. Because it wasn't an attack against the USA alone, it was an attack against the whole free world.

My thoughts for all who lost someone during those attacks.

 

[minx1]

What happened was horrible, and I'm just so tired of seeing it being used to make any other point.

People going about a workday anywhere should never have to be afraid of anything like this.

This is what affected me the most. Ordinary working people. Normal, everyday, you and me kinda people just going about their business and trying to earn a crust. My thoughts are with their families.

Something that also sticks in my mind though, is the bravery that so many people demonstrated that day. Bravery of that magnitude takes my breath away.

 

[greeneyed_Lady]

My memories of that day are jumbled and confused. My youngest did something for the first time that day and I remember as the day progressed that I was crying every time he did it. His first combined with so many lasts. I didn't know anyone personally involved in any of the events that day... but it could very well be the beginning of the end of my marriage. My ex volunteered to go "where ever" he was needed the day after (he was off work the day of, altho I think he might have gone into work). I remember feeling confused about where I should be. I had two small children (6 mo and 4 yrs) and didn't feel safe in my city (for many reasons), couldn't go *home* to my parents as they live in a capital city (nation's capital), couldn't go into the States (I am American born, carry dual citizenship) because I was afraid of what was going to happen next. Was 4 months of back and forth on my ex's deployment until he finally was sent overseas.

Many years later I met a wonderful man online who has become a very close friend. His world also had a bittersweet edge to it. It's the day his son was born. It's the day his *wife* died. I think of him on that day as well as all those that were killed.

 

[cherokee_dove]

Soon parents started showing up and taking their kids out of school. We still didn't know what happened. My mother showed up and we left and there were thousands of people walking down 1st ave towards the bridges to get home, since the subways were stopped. We got home and turned on the TV and we saw it, and my first thought was that someone was just panning the camera up to make it LOOK like they were falling.

I don't think I was old enough to have any real feelings about it.

I was mostly pissed off that they closed every school below 14th st... and my school was on 15th st.

Syd, my oldest and i talked about that day, last night. He said the one thing besides the images on tv that he remembers most, was the fact that he saw mommy (me), standing nose to nose with the principal of his school; about ready to lay into her for not letting me have him out of the school.

i told him yes hon, i was going to; because it seemed right at that time frame, that the world was coming to an end. And if that was to be the case, i wanted my boys home with me.

And that was after talking to my friends brother, then hearing on the news that one of the planes had did a U-turn up by Cleveland and was heading towards the Capital. It went right over my county, before crashing in Pennsylvania.

I remember that day much too well. Every bit of it, permanently etched into my consciousness. But not as a memorial...as the fear I felt that day. (I was working a couple of blocks from the White House then, and there were reports of attacks all over town.) I don't want to remember the fear, or the queasy feeling in my stomach all day. I want to remember the people, but not the horror. Wish it worked that way.

Etoile, i did not mean the title of the thread as a memorial to the hell that happened that day. i meant it as a memorial to lost loved ones, friends, and to those we didn't even know.

And as a way for friends here to get some of those "feelings" out, that come upon us; each year. Different feelings for different people, but still if left inside; the stress will continue to erode at a person.

i just thought this would be a good place to release some of the feelings for everyone.

And for those who were not able to talk about their feelings, i understand completely; and was not meaning to offend anyone.

My thoughts and prayers to all of you.