Lots to blog about today. As we all know, today marks the 8 year anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. This morning, I was surprised to see that neither “The Today Show” nor “Good Morning America” had much to say about 9/11…so I scrolled through the guide and found some retrospectives on the History Channel that I taped so Vann and I could watch them together this evening.

I really wish I could find this letter I wrote to the editor of the Chicago Sun Times the week the towers fell. I think it must be on some old disc somewhere, or buried in our basement in a box of paperwork or books. It might be the best thing I’ve ever written, and I’m sorry I don’t have a record of it on our current computer.

At any rate, I was 23 when those towers fell, just off the “turnip truck” as it were, and I remember riding the Halsted bus downtown that day to my job as an admin at a photography studio. My roommate Courtney worked in the loop, and we managed to get back to each other later that day, when everyone was told to go home and the mass exodus from downtown happened. I remember walking out of the studio and looking over at the Sears Tower and thinking we were all going to die.

Court and I spent days holed up in our apartment, watched Peter Jennings into the night, and even participated in candlelight vigils on our street. I would call my Dad and talk to him for hours, about Armageddon and the Rapture and Revelations. I am almost ashamed to say this, but it was the first time (in 23 years) that I felt truly moved by something that happened to our country. My heart was so broken for those children in the daycare, the college student that died on the plane that was my age, and all of the people just going to work like any other normal day…except they’d never walk back through the door at 6 pm.

What’s most interesting about it all, looking back 8 years later, is that Vann and Charlie weren’t even blips on my screen at the time. I think about that kind of situation NOW and it terrifies me. What would I do if that happened again and I didn’t know where my family was and how to find them?

Chills.

I know that we are going to sit down tonight and the memories of those days will rush back and I will probably cry. I hope that we never forget what went down that day. And I, for one, truly hope that the administration we have now will keep us as safe in the future as the previous administration did these past 8 years.

Feeling safe and free are things that we don’t really think about on a daily basis, do we? Thankfully, as Christians, we believe and know that God has a purpose and a plan for everything, even the tragedy of that day…so tonight I will hug my husband and daughter a little tighter, tell my friends and family I love them, and pray for another shot at life tomorrow.

God Bless America!!