Well I failed in my mission. I didn’t post anything
yesterday. I wanted to wait and see what life threw at me before I sat down to
write, when nothing came about till just before bedtime, I decided it would
wait till tomorrow. I wanted to go to sleep early.
Kenzie was sent home with a new bookmark yesterday she was
so excited. Turns out it was actually a note to parents that we needed to send
our children to school dressed in red, white, and blue for the 9/11
commemoration ceremony at school today. So Royce and I set out to explain to
her why she couldn’t wear her ACU and Cav outfit from homecoming last week and needed
to wear her butterfly flag shirt instead. It wasn’t as easy to explain
something that has had such a huge impact on our lives to a 4 year old as I
thought it might be.
First, Royce tried to tell her it was so we could remember a
bunch of people that died the same day a few years back. Kenzie of course says
she needs to me to make a shirt with Mike’s picture for her to wear he died so
she can talk about him. I held my composure and decided to sit down and try to
explain as best as I could how it had nothing to do with her uncle Mike.
This was my explanation to a four year old. “Ten years ago,
a bunch of bad men, who don’t like a America, the country we live in, decided
they wanted to hurt everyone that did like America. They took over a bunch of
Airplanes and made them fly into buildings and crash. All the people in the
planes died, including the bad men, and a bunch of people in each building. The
buildings in New York fell down completely so they had to build new ones. But
we got all the bad men who did this and they won’t do it again. They wanted to
scare everyone in America, but we only showed them how proud we can be and
stood tall.”
Mackenzie’s response was a simple,”Oh, they can’t do that
again can they?” I told her, “No, I don’t think they can, we have to many
Soldiers and other Armed Force trying to protect us and will do everything they
can to keep it from happening again. Its part of the reason Daddy is in the
Army and has to go over to Iraq.”
Honestly, though, I don’t’ think 9/11 had too much to do
with our invasion of Iraq. It was part of the reason everyone was hysterical
and ready to attack anyone perceived as an enemy, but if I am truly honest I should
tell you I think that our President at the time had many other things on his
mind and agenda that had nothing to do with the attacks that dreadful day in
2001.
Everyone seems to be asking ‘Where were you on 9/11?’ My
answer: I was in my pottery class in Muskogee, Oklahoma, at Muskogee high
School. It was my senior year and I was sitting in my first class of the day
watching CNN, talking to my buddy Mary, just like I did every morning. I saw
the news prompt and start talking about the first plane. I was watching the
screen hand (probably with my mouth open speechless) and I saw the plane hit
the second tower, on live television. It was at then that moment that I knew
something greater than a simple plane malfunction was responsible for this.
There was a plot that planned to fly those planes into the Twin Towers.
Many things flew around in my mind. Who would do this? Why
would someone want to destroy so many lives and hurt so many people? Did our government
know something like this could happen? What is going to happen to all the
people in New York? I know I’ll be ripping up my application to the University
of New York as soon as I get home. How is his going to affect little ol’ high
school senior me in Muskogee, Oklahoma?
Many lives changed in those hours that morning. We had a teacher
at my school that lost a son in the Pentagon that day. Many of my classmates
signed up for the military shortly after. While I had no plans but for college
immediately after graduation, I would have never guessed how much that day would
really affect MY life. It wasn’t until 2003 when my future husband joined
the Army just after the declaration of war that I realized life in Oklahoma
would never be that simple.
I’ll save the details of how Royce and I went from being
tolerant of each other to married for another day. However, I will say it’s his
decision to join the Army that ultimately led us to each other. It’s been the
fight in Iraq and that Military that has led out lives together. We’ve had our
ups and downs in the last seven years with many challenges, including war,
PTSD, our desire for children, and many moves, but we’ve held onto to each
other throughout it all. While deployment is no stranger to us, it has shaped
our lives and my children’s as well. They’ve had to be braver and stronger than
most their age. My daughter is smarter and independent beyond her years and
Bradley is catching up to her.
I remain a strong supporter of our troops in every fashion,
not just my husband and the soldiers that he leads, but all soldiers. While I support
any military effort by any branch, I’m very biased to the Army. What can I say?
I didn’t fall in love with a Knight in shining Armor; I fell in love with a
soldier in dirty ACUs.
On Sunday, I’ll be waiting and cheering for the Cowboys that
night when the game against the Jets starts, but I’ll remember that morning
what event it was that shaped my life and the life of many others. I’ll
remember those that were lost, the brave fireman and policeman that worked and
some that were lost that day. I’ll remember the battles that have been fought
and some won since. But most of all I’m going to remember that while someone
tried to strip me of my pride and sense of freedom in this great country, that
we as Americans stood strong, proud, and vigilant, and remain as such.
‘Where were you when the world stopped turning that
September day?’
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