Here we are on September 11, 2011. Ten years. I know any post that I create today will be cliche, something that thousands and thousands of others have written about, and probably more eloquently. Yet it is hard to let this day pass without saying something, acknowledging the significance of the date on the calendar.
Today I give thanks. On the anniversary of the worst day, I want to make an outward statement of gratitude. I know that I complain quite a bit. I talk about the difficulties of parenthood and the everyday burdens of life often. But I am lucky.
On the day the towers fell, I was in my mid-twenties. I had no children. I shed tears for the babies that lost fathers and mothers in the senseless violence, however I did not truly comprehend it. Today I have a better understanding of what it might have been like. A belly full of new life, a young father who will never come home. A three year old trying to grasp that mommy has gone away forever. A kindergartner searching for reassurance as she is faced with the countless images of terrified adults. I pray that this will never be my reality, that I will remain lucky.
While contemplating the magnitude of this day, I was also reminded of the more personal, everyday tragedies that I have bared witness to over the past year. Just today I read about a fellow mommy blogger who's twelve year old son literally got ripped away from her own backyard in a flash flood. He drowned. He is gone forever. A pain I cannot begin to understand.
On a smaller scale I have watched friends struggle through divorce, miscarriages and life changing injuries. For them it has been an unbelievably difficult year. Life is hard and I have had it very easy. I am lucky, and now I give thanks. I am thankful for my sons and my husband, my parents and my sister, my nieces and nephews, in-laws and friends. I'll knock on wood, I'll spit three times, but in the end it's luck, shear luck.
Tonight I am thanking my lucky stars for all that I have, and I am thinking of those who have lost so very much.
Couldn't have said it better. I too have been lucky and hope that continues. I can't imagine the pain of the mother who lost her son in that flood how heartbreaking. Really makes me appreciate that my family is whole and we are all together.
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteI love how you put it down. And thanks for letting me know what happened to the boy... I didn't know the story but knew he had passed away. So tragic. I love your last sentence so much.
ReplyDeleteSo heartbreaking...
ReplyDeleteme too-
ReplyDelete