Always Remember, Never Forget

If you're like me, remembering what I happened yesterday seems light years away so remembering something that happened 10 years ago seems impossible. But September 11th.  I can distinctly remember it being a sunny day over here in Southern California while I was figuring out what to wear.  I thought it was odd that I could hear the TV on downstairs, my mom never watches TV and especially never in the morning. 

I couldn't even fathom what I was seeing on TV.  It just didn't make sense, how could planes possibly be crashing into the tallest buildings in New York City??  Even after my mom explained to me the little that she knew, my 11 year old brain just could not wrap around it.  School that day was just full of confusion and eerie silence.  No one knew what was going on, we were all scared for the people in NY, for all the families who didn't know where there loved ones were, and for the possibility of something happening in LA.

Ten years ago our generation was born.  During the time we were learning about the ancient Mesopotamia, algebra and science, our innocent world got turned upside down.  To think we didn't even have Facebook, or Twitter, or even blogs to hear about the news.  Just cold hard facts live from the TV. 

Yet in the darkness of the sky, our country pulled ourselves together.  We found our strength through the tears over our lost loved ones.  Regardless of our age, our nationality, our sex, our religion, our size, our color, we came together as a family.  As one of my friends in the Navel Academy nicely put it: "America is a family. We argue with each other, we hurt each other occasionally, but if you mess with any one of us, you mess with all of us.  Our ability to come together when it counts is our strength. God Bless America."

I would just like to take the time to thank all the brave men and women who risked their lives to protect us. To thank all the remarkable men and women on the two planes that crashed and Flight 93. To thank all the angels in heaven who had to die on this day.

Always Remember. Never Forget. 9/11 RIP.