September 11th.

Yes, I know 4 days have passed since the 10th anniversary of 9/11, but I couldn't let another day go by without writing about it.  

Can you believe it has been 10 years?  I know I can't, and it leaves me wondering what I have done with myself and my life over the last 10 years.  

I started college and graduated from college.

I met some amazing people.

I worked random jobs so that I could travel to not so random places.

I met my husband and then married him.

I have celebrated births and birthdays!

I finished my master's.

And I fell even more in love with the Lord...and my husband.

And within those 10 years I have done ALOT of soul searching.

So tell me...What have you done in the last 10 years?  

I have spent the past week not only reflecting on the last 10 years but reflecting on the actual day 10 years ago.

Where were you on September 11th 2001? 

This is a question I have been asking everyone, and some of the answers are the same and some are different.  I suppose the answers vary depending on your location at the time and your proximity to New York.  

I was asleep - in my parents house.  And I was to be leaving either that day or the next to move to Seattle to start school at UW.  And I remember my mom waking me up from my slumber in a slight panic.  I didn't quite know how to respond to the words that were tumbling out of her mouth - so I just obeyed and got up out of bed - only to find that the TV was turned on and terrible things were happening.  This couldn't be real life, could it??  This was still a dream right?  I mean that plane was about to crash into that tower...that plane that was filled with people and that tower that was filled with even more.  Their lives, their families, their sons, their daughters, their wives, their husbands - all of it was lost in an instant.  

Many of the people I asked this question to were living on the West Coast at the same, and the majority were living in Washington, and the majority of them were also asleep or on their way to school.  

But this comment from a dear friend who was not on the West Coast, but rather on the East Coast really rocked me.  "I will never forget.  Sitting in my apartment in NYC on the 37th floor when the first tower hit.  The horror of watching the buildings fall and the unbelievable fear...was I safe?  The heavy dust in the air, the military presence on the streets, the tear-stained cheeks of wandering people searching and holding up pictures of loved ones.  Tunnels and bridges closed so no one could get off or on the island of Manhattan.  The grief, the kindness of strangers, the fear, the courage, the anger, and the resilient strength of neighbors and co-workers, I will never forget."

And I too will never forget, but the memories I have from that day are so very different than hers.  And what I remember from that day is so very different than what she remembers, but it still remains a day both of us will never ever forget.

So tell me...where were you on September 11th 2001?

These animated shorts by StoryCorps came up on my facebook feed this last week, and I instantly wanted to share them.  So I am doing just that!

After doing a bit more research, I discovered that StoryCorps started a 9/11 initiative, and "since 2005, StoryCorps and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum have worked to record at least one story to honor each life lost in the attacks on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. To date, StoryCorps has recorded and archived 1,193 September 11th stories, representing 583 individual victims."    

"John and Joe"

John Vigiano Sr. is a retired New York City firefighter whose two sons followed him into service—John Jr. was a firefighter, too, and Joe was a police detective.  On September 11, 2001, both Vigiano brothers responded to the call from the World Trade Center, and both were killed while saving others.  Here, John Sr. remembers his sons and reflects on coping with his tremendous loss.

"She was the One"

When Richie Pecorella met Karen Juday, she captured his heart and changed his life. They were engaged and living together in Brooklyn when Karen was killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, where she worked as an administrative assistant. Here, Richie remembers Karen, his love and inspiration.

"Always a Family"

On the morning of September 11th, Michael Trinidad called his ex-wife, Monique Ferrer, from the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower to say goodbye. In the wake of his death, Monique tells the story of Michael’s lasting legacy—the family they built together.