Were you left unscathed?

Grandma with my morning class' flag of American Pride '01

The day the towers fell.

I was on the playground with my charges. I had 18 three and four year olds on the playground with my assistant and myself. My Building Coordinator came out with tears in her eyes. I thought she was going to tell me something disturbing about one of 'my families'. She didn't. What she told me was confusing to me. She was using words like, attacked, fell, casualties. I didn't understand, but I remember the fear. I needed to be with those I love, and hold dear to me. I gathered up my tiny charges and we went inside. I sat on the carpet and had them sit with me. I remember how I felt more secure with them in my lap, on my arms, touching them and loving them. They knew how upset we adults were. They didn't know why, but they soaked up the love we all had to share with them. In the days passed, we talked about the things they had to view on the televisions. We brought in psychologists to teach us how to talk to our babies about what they were witnessing, what they were hearing and how it effected them. We did the best we could. How do you explain to a four year old what has happened in a city so far away and what was happening to our nation? It's a natural reply from a child - "Why?"

"Why?"

This was a question I asked my own son a few weeks later when he called me from college.

"I have to do something Momma."

"Please, dear God son, please think about what you are saying. The Marines son?"

"You raised me Momma, do you think I can continue to go to school knowing that there is something I can do, and not doing it?"

It was several months later when I put my son on a plane headed for Kuwait. I remember falling to my knees. I remember screaming at God to hear me, "BRING HIM HOME SAFELY!"

Were you left unscathed?

9/11/01 changed us all in some way. It grew my young adult son up. He did come home safely. He came home cynical and full of contempt for a leader who lead on his own agenda. He came home with a knowledge of things he has never shared with me. It took a couple of years for him to find his way back into school. He will graduate next year as a physical therapist. He has been able to internalize 9/11/01 and move forward. He has never lost sight of a nation coming together and strives to be a good American. A proud American.

That one day in history skewed our perspective of a way of life. It shook us up, it made us all feel vulnerable. We lost so much in a span of one day yet we have gained as well. We have gained an awareness of our freedoms. We have gained a sense of pride unknown to many of us prior to that day. As a family, as a community, as a nation the pride we have is unmistakably American.

Kuwait '02

Homecoming '03

love me later ~ tj