9/11
Six years ago today, I was busy getting the kids breakfast and getting the older ones ready for school. Mark was in bed asleep as he'd had a long night at work. The tv was on a channel with SpongeBob. My phone rang and Mom asked "Are you watching TV?". I said "yes, cartoons..why?" She said that I needed to turn CNN on NOW! So being the good daughter in law that I am (hehe), I did just that. Up until that moment, my life...Marks life...the lives of our children were one thing. After that moment, our lives forever changed. I watched about ten seconds of the news, realized that whatever was happening was NOT an accident, and went and woke Mark up. He watched about 1 minute of the news and grabbed the phone and put on his uniform all at the same time. He knew where he needed to be but needed to know exactly what needed to be done. Submarine Base Bangor was in lockdown. No one but necessary personnel got on. The subs were headed out. Mark was told he couldn't get on base, to just sit tight and wait. And watch. And wait some more.
We kept the kids day as normal as was humanly possible on that day. We got them off to school and then tried to figure out what we could do. We felt like many Americans did that day...completely helpless. We headed to Hood Canal to watch Marks sub leave, but couldn't get within two miles of the bridge. We ended up finding beach access and watched it leave from there. I could tell that Mark was wanting to swim out to it. He felt he needed to be with his shipmates and yet he couldn't. I had never seen Mark feel so frustrated...so pent up with energy...than I did that day. We felt that the next best thing was to head to the Red Cross office and donate blood. We turned the corner to park in the lot and saw that half the town had the same idea. People were lined up for a block at least. They had more donors than they could possibly use! Being eight months pregnant, I was unable to give and Mark was only able to leave his name, blood type and phone number in case they needed him- at that point, they had more than they could handle.
It wasn't long before we started seeing the American flag everywhere we looked. Cars and trucks had them flying from antennae and homes had them flying. In that one day, I had never seen so many people so proud of the Flag!
Like most other Americans, we spent most of that afternoon and evening glued to the TV. I had to take many breaks from watching. It was just too much to see...too much to process. By the next day, I had no tears left. The coming weeks would bring changes to the base, to our town, to our lives that eventually became permanent. Gates were built. Barricades were erected. Airports became places of tight security. And we felt a surge in pride that hadn't happened in a very long time. We also felt anger. We tried to point fingers...pinpoint a solution....little did we know that six years later we would still be looking for answers. Little did we know that six years later we would still be embroiled in battle.
Twelve days later I gave birth to our son. The events of the past week seemed far away at that point. In just a few weeks we had become accustomed to the changes that 9/11 wrought on our lives.
But six years later, we can never forget how we felt that day when violent, vicious people came into our country and murdered thousands. We can never forget those who died. We can never forget those who rushed in to aid those who were caught in the maelstrom of this attack and in turn lost their own lives. We can never forget the families who lost fathers,mothers,brothers,sisters,sons,daughters,husbands and wives. And we can never forget those among us who six years later still proudly wear the Uniform of the United States Military. Those who stand up and keep us safe. Those who will do all they can to ensure that the events of six years ago remain an event in history and that never again becomes something that happens in the days and years to come.
Let us never forget.
Hugs
Jaye
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