9-11-09

Its been 8 years already and yet everything still hurts when thinking about the tragedy our country faced on this day. In some way or another that day impacted everyone I know. I remember driving to work that day hearing about it on the radio. It was drizzling outside and it was 11 days away from my wedding. Kato was going to a school that is supposed to help him transition from Navy life to civilian life. I was at my desk working when my phone rang and it was my soon to be husband. He said "baby, I don't know where I am going, I don't know when I will be back, but I know I love you." My heart sank I was afraid he was shipping out and our wedding wasn't going to happen. I was afraid he would get into some kind of war and I wasn't sure when I would see him again. I was so upset not just because Kato was gone to who-knows-where but because so many people were killed. Innocent people lost mothers, sisters, daughters, sons, husbands, fathers, friends, and family. Strangers we all were, yet one day this tragedy forced everyone to come together. There was no news of robberies, gang violence, children taken, only news of death and destruction caused by people who don't like what we stand for. All the service men and women of our country went to work that day and they worked twice as hard for twice as long and then some. The news was so sad and constantly on. Every hour the death toll went up and once all the damage was done and accounted for it was sickening to hear who was responsible, why they did it, and how they did it. We as Americans were hurt and then we got angry and we, in my opinion, have yet to get justice. Maybe we are not supposed to. Maybe we are just supposed to remember that day and for just a moment thank God that we still have our freedom, our military, our country, and our love for each other. A war still rages on and battles are fought everyday as a result, people are still dying, people are still healing, some people will never heal. We go through our day to day activities and some of us think in the back of our minds as we go up to the 30th floor of our offices will it happen again. We get on a plane to travel and look around wondering is it possible again. Its always going to be with us and there is nothing that we can do or should do to forget. Kato and I got married 11 days later and as far as I was concerned the only thing that mattered was we were finally husband and wife. Everything seemed so frivolous to worry about, many things went wrong just before our wedding but it didn't matter really. I thanked all our helpers and helped clean up. They told me I was the first bride to do that. As you look at the photo of our wedding day and you see all those attendants, my little boy who is now growing into a man, my wonderful husband and the smile on my face you would never have imagined that 9-11-01 happened. I just want to thank everyone again for that beautiful day. Thank everyone who was able to fly in from all over to be with us. For some of you it was the last time you saw Kato before he too was deployed for 6 months. So today take a moment to reflect where you were, how you felt, and perform a random act of kindness and say a prayer for those who lost their lives and loved ones. Don't ever forget 9-11. thanks for reading. xoxo