It was seven years ago today that our world drastically changed. That statement is especially true of our military and their families.
Lordy, Precious..am I not the Queen of Understatement?
To be sure, the anger that I felt seven years ago bubbles back up to the surface. That anger does rise up when bad things happen but every year on this day, I am angry. Horribly, terribly angry.
The sorrow I felt that day comes back very clearly as the names of those we lost are read, moments of silence are observed and footage of that day's events are played. There is no amount of Visine that will fix my eyes today. They have been red on this day for the past seven years. So be it. There is no shame in that.
What this day also does is renew my determination not to be defeated by those events. I am an American, a military spouse and a military mom. I will not be broken. Bruised, yes. Broken, no.
I always think of the weeks and months after 9/11 as a huge jigsaw puzzle. At that time, I was trying to figure out how I fit in this new reality. Others were as well.
Patti Patton Bader became a corner piece of the puzzle. Without her trying to find her place in this new world, we would not have Soldiers' Angels.
A little bit later, we would have Marine wives Karen Guenther, Wendy Lethin and others find that they were a corner piece when they created Injured Marine Semper Fi fund.
And very soon after that, G-Bear found that she too was a corner piece when she founded Sew Much Comfort.
So many others did the same soul searching to see where they fit in that puzzle. Click the link and see just how many people have created organizations in an attempt to find their place in this world.
We didn't choose this post 9/11 reality and regardless of your opinion of our actions in the aftermath, I think we are all pieces of the same big puzzle. That suits me. Corner piece or inside piece, we're all needed to complete the puzzle. We all have our place and our job to do..whatever that might be.
We will always remember 9/11. It has, in very large part, made us who we are today.
