Remembering....The Day After

Nine years ago today we woke up to world that was completely different.  Nothing seemed as safe, nothing was as simple and nothing seemed ok.  On the day before we had witnessed planes crashing into buildings and fields, strong buildings falling to the ground and nothing would ever be the same.  As I rocked my two month old little girl, I wondered what kind of world is this?  I tried to explain to my 5 year old and 3 year old why that plane flew into the building.  I had no answers for that.....

On September 12th though, as the dust was still clearing and we waited with our breath held to see if they would find anyone alive.  Hope with every passing minute that there would be miracles.  I remember feeling very disconnected from the rest of the country during those days, weeks, months.  Thankful that I lived in rural Kansas.  But what was replaying over and over on my TV seemed too unreal to be real.  Was it really the same country?

Almost 9 years later, I finally fulfilled a dream to visit New York City.  That day,  9/11 became real to me .  The buildings, people and tragedy found depth and sadness in my heart.  I grieved 9 years ago, but understanding came 9 years later.

 But hope came too.  This looks like a piece of modern art but is really a mangled sculpture that was underneath the rubble of the World Trade Center.  It used to be a perfect globe.  It reminds me now of how we felt the day after.  Mangled, bruised and beaten.  Out of the ruble this was pulled and out of the ruble we stood up.  The scars are still visible, but that is what makes us stronger.  It is a monument to all of us that remember that day that we dust ourselves off and stand proud once again, scars and all. 

Plaque that sits with sculpture in Battery Park, NYC.