Never Forget...

September 11, will never ever be the same, after the loss our country suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks that took place.  I know that most of us can remember clearly the specifics of where we were and what we were doing when the first plane hit the first tower.  Emotions of anger, grief and sadness seemed to hang on for days, which turned into months and years.  It has been 10 years since this has affected our country and the people as individuals.  I believe that slowly, over time, the healing process has made us stronger and forced us to pull together and lean on each other.  This was such a life changing day in history for each and every person. It became an opportunity for people to really think about what is important in life, to re-prioritize  and to never let anything go left unsaid.  

Today, I had the opportunity to visit the Healing Field, a 9/11 Memorial, at our local ski area. This memorial featured rows and rows of 3,200 American flags to remember and honor those who were lost in this tragedy.  Each flag had the name and brief description about the person.  The bios tied to the flags with red ribbons, signified the firefighters.  The blue ribbons stood for police officers.   

As we began to walk through the flags and read the bios, several times, my eyes filled with tears of heartbreak.  Some were young and just begun new jobs, some had families, or were expecting.  These people were just like any of us.  They got up that morning and went about their lives just as we did.  It was an ordinary day until suddenly, tragedy struck. I was very moved by reading about all of the innocent people lost and thought about the families of these victims.                                                                    

A sign stuck in the ground read...

This choked me up once again.  As I walked with my daughter, I was saddened by all of the children that lost their parent or would never know them.  Emma made a comment about how awful that was, as she walked past the sign.  She was not yet born when this horrible tragedy struck.  

We continued to walk up the hill and stood at the top and looked down at the 3,200 flags of innocence lost.  I grabbed the hand of my husband, and of my daughter, and we walked back down the hill, through the flags. At that moment, I was thinking about how very thankful I was to have them and that I was able to physically grab their hands, something that the loved ones of all who were lost, would no longer be able to do.  

In memory of all those lost 10 years ago today....we will never forget.