We Must Never Forget - 911
I never intended this blog to be political in any way, lord knows we need more things in life that point out our common ground than war over our differences. This blog still won't become anything political, nor will anyone really ever know where I stand, especially should I be given the chance to have a public platform that can go along with an acting career. I'm an artist - period. I'm not going to use it to sway people's beliefs one way or another. There's a huge responsibility that goes along with being in the public's eye.
But--with this upcoming rememberance of 911 I do want to remember those who lost their lives. The people who did this to other human beings never asked first: What political party do you support? They never asked what religion or what country they were from. They did not try to rationalize or consider anything. It could have been any one of us that lost our lives that day. My heart is still aching over these events and I just hope those who were directly effected can somehow heal in time. The only connection I have directly is that my family lives where I was born and raised in Jersey and NYC. My house was only 13 miles away from ground zero. My father and his wife and my brother knew Jeremy who was on United 93. I didn't know that they knew him until recently this past weekend when we talked about the upcoming memorial day. It made my heart all the more sad. Here's my story of how my day went on that...strangely enough it was a beautiful, sunny day that day....
I still remember my husband waking me up in my son's bedroom. I was very sick the previous night and fell asleep on a mattress on his floor.
He gently shook me early in the morning and turned on our son's tv. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then in real time, we saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I knew this wasn't an accident, much like the rest of the world - the dawning resounded with great trepidation then electrifying panic. My father, his wife, my brother...they lived across the Hudson in North Jersey only minutes away. This is where I grew up. My father was a carpenter and often worked in NYC. He was there only a week ago. His wife worked for an insurance co. and she was in NYC and flew often.
(My other brother on the West Coast was to be wed only days after this event and I feared my dad's wife was on a plane to CA, getting to the West Coast early because of work scheduling her to be in AZ)
I scrambled to the phone and called back East. Nothing-no ringing - no busy signal - nothing. I was able to get on line and frantically searched for information about their intended schedules before the wedding - I found an email that stated she was going to be on a flight but it didn't say when. I couldn't get through to my brother to see if he knew.
I kept my son home from school that day, this was no time to be separated.
We prayed, cried, and searched for answers.
I called my aunt and we talked and calmed one another. Her husband, my uncle had family there: sisters. One lived in Manhattan. Turns out that she saw most of it - even the plane hitting. I can't imagine what that was like, it was hard enough to see it on tv. My mother's boyfriend's family lived in Brooklyn and they worked all over NYC. I just hoped everyone was ok. No one could be reached.
After many, many eternal hours, word came back to us. My dad's wife was able to email me and tell me that they were all ok. My dad was home, she had been stuck in Newark (it was completely locked down and she couldn't get out til late that night) and my brother was with friends. I still have that email.
Somehow, everyone made it home safely, but changed forever. Do you remember where you were that day and what happened? I'm sure everyone does. My son vividly remembers. I can remember this: we all went to the grocery store later that evening and not one person honked their horns (keep in mind we lived in Vegas and Vegas is not known for polite drivers-you're lucky if someone doesn't tap your bumper trying to get you to move up so they can make a right turn). Not one profane word escaped a person's lips, not one rude comment about how long the grocery line was. Long faces worn in humility....humility...humility.
Self Reflection
With that said, I ask: "Are we living our lives to our fullest potential?" "Are we giving things that really matter the proper priority?"
But--with this upcoming rememberance of 911 I do want to remember those who lost their lives. The people who did this to other human beings never asked first: What political party do you support? They never asked what religion or what country they were from. They did not try to rationalize or consider anything. It could have been any one of us that lost our lives that day. My heart is still aching over these events and I just hope those who were directly effected can somehow heal in time. The only connection I have directly is that my family lives where I was born and raised in Jersey and NYC. My house was only 13 miles away from ground zero. My father and his wife and my brother knew Jeremy who was on United 93. I didn't know that they knew him until recently this past weekend when we talked about the upcoming memorial day. It made my heart all the more sad. Here's my story of how my day went on that...strangely enough it was a beautiful, sunny day that day....
I still remember my husband waking me up in my son's bedroom. I was very sick the previous night and fell asleep on a mattress on his floor.
He gently shook me early in the morning and turned on our son's tv. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then in real time, we saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I knew this wasn't an accident, much like the rest of the world - the dawning resounded with great trepidation then electrifying panic. My father, his wife, my brother...they lived across the Hudson in North Jersey only minutes away. This is where I grew up. My father was a carpenter and often worked in NYC. He was there only a week ago. His wife worked for an insurance co. and she was in NYC and flew often.
(My other brother on the West Coast was to be wed only days after this event and I feared my dad's wife was on a plane to CA, getting to the West Coast early because of work scheduling her to be in AZ)
I scrambled to the phone and called back East. Nothing-no ringing - no busy signal - nothing. I was able to get on line and frantically searched for information about their intended schedules before the wedding - I found an email that stated she was going to be on a flight but it didn't say when. I couldn't get through to my brother to see if he knew.
I kept my son home from school that day, this was no time to be separated.
We prayed, cried, and searched for answers.
I called my aunt and we talked and calmed one another. Her husband, my uncle had family there: sisters. One lived in Manhattan. Turns out that she saw most of it - even the plane hitting. I can't imagine what that was like, it was hard enough to see it on tv. My mother's boyfriend's family lived in Brooklyn and they worked all over NYC. I just hoped everyone was ok. No one could be reached.
After many, many eternal hours, word came back to us. My dad's wife was able to email me and tell me that they were all ok. My dad was home, she had been stuck in Newark (it was completely locked down and she couldn't get out til late that night) and my brother was with friends. I still have that email.
Somehow, everyone made it home safely, but changed forever. Do you remember where you were that day and what happened? I'm sure everyone does. My son vividly remembers. I can remember this: we all went to the grocery store later that evening and not one person honked their horns (keep in mind we lived in Vegas and Vegas is not known for polite drivers-you're lucky if someone doesn't tap your bumper trying to get you to move up so they can make a right turn). Not one profane word escaped a person's lips, not one rude comment about how long the grocery line was. Long faces worn in humility....humility...humility.
Self Reflection
With that said, I ask: "Are we living our lives to our fullest potential?" "Are we giving things that really matter the proper priority?"
posted by Miss A | 8:55 PM
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