Where I Stand - Making Connections

A morning to remember

and reflect..

the sunrise called to me this morning.  I drove down the 1/2 mile road to the top of a rise in the land to watch the sunrise. 

DH and I woke up early and had been watching the 9/11 prep of the commemorations that would occur today, on this anniversary of the tragedy that beset our country 10 years ago.  I thought about where I was when I heard about what was happening that morning, as I am sure most of you did, as well.

Usually getting to school in Colorado, around 7 AM, I met my friend Lara in the parking lot, who told me that a plane had flown into the WTC tower in NYC.   I quickly went to my classroom ~ turned on the TV and unaware of what I would see, watched the 2nd plane fly into the other WTC building and there was also news of the Pentagon tragedy and the plane crash in a field in Pennsylvania.  I felt sad, I felt sick, I was in shock and I felt hopelessness for those who were directly affected.  

School was going to start soon.  My first thought was what will I tell my first graders?  They were probably en route to school when this catastrophy went down, or perhaps they were at home with hardly any time to process this or understand the impact of this in their young minds, muchless my own mind.   We gathered for a quick triage referring to 'talking points' we would use with kids...they needed to talk about it, they needed to feel safe and reassured that everyone would remain safe.  (I thought, "Would they?")

Somehow we made it through that day, and the days to come trying to come to grips with it...as a teacher, you would often hear the worries, concerns, biases and prejudices of the parents through their children's voices.  

As recognition of the first anniversary, I had these same children for second grade.  I took their photos with a flag and they wrote little pieces to go into a photo scrapbook, which I kept.  Here is one of the original pieces written by Allison.

In June 2002, before school started, the trucking company DH worked for was part of supplying the transport for a caravan that displayed wreckage for a California memorial project of debris from the World Trade Center. They hosted a viewing of pieces of this debris in their parking lot on June 30. It was heartwrenching and a solemn event.

The following are photos from my album of that occasion.

"Freedom's Flame" was the title of the traveling display.

Seeing this steel ~ and how the heat bent and twisted it was horrific.

The theme that rose up out of that devastation of 9/11/2001 is poignant.

Earlier that summer in late July 2001, my daughter was married in Evergreen, Co. 

Their honeymoon was in NYC.  They were at the WTC on this trip (thank goodness it wasn't weeks after)...when they returned they announced they would be moving to Brooklyn later that next year. 

In March of 2003, and a couple of other times,  I visited them in NYC.  My daughter and I took a tour of the area around 'Ground Zero' during that 2003 visit.  A lot of the clean-up had been done...there were fences around everything. There were memorials, and signs all over the area. 

Here are a few photos I took at that time.

The names of the fallen heroes..

looking down into the pit...and around us, you could still see the damage done to a few of the surrounding buildings...

wreaths, flowers - almost two years after - still placed to commemorate.

This was not only a devastating event on the people of New York City, but FOR US ALL.

This 'Generation of Warriors' will prevail.

We will never forget.

Thanks to the men and women who continue to serve with our military forces (some over and over again)

I encourage you to leave a comment and tell where you were and

how you remember it on 9/11/2001.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing.

Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on.

There are several others who also write this on Sunday, see sidebar.