Tuesday, September 11, 2012

9-11

Today is the anniversary.  I have just been up on Facebook and have noticed something disconcerting: to my friends that are in different countries, this doesn't even make a ruffle in there days, not even "in sympathy with you" type posts (and in at least one instance an American has thanked a foreign country for there assistance on our tragic day!), but, instead, its "MY life AS USUAL".

My life can never be usual, no matter how many different addresses I have hung my coat up at since that day... My story has been shared (with the Christian references edited out by the newspaper it was printed in, which made my temperature rise slightly when I opened the paper that day, very excited I was going to be quoted (initially)) but since this is my blog (dammit!) I am going to share THE WHOLE STORY of MY 9/11 experience :

I was married and living in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  It was a typical morning: my husband and I were out early to deliver newspapers with our two doggys, Myndie and CoCo, each of whom had an assigned route (one was always waiting in the vehicle w/ Mommy) ... then, after we returned home, my husband had to clean up and get ready to go to classes at seminary, and I went back to bed ...

The scoop was, with my sleeping 'problems', I should have slept until around one, two, in the afternoon -- instead, I was rudely awakened after only a short time by what actually felt like someone giving me a good hard shove.  I called my husband's name.  No answer.  I got up and looked through the house.  No, he wasn't home.  (And, besides, he almost never woke me up like that.)  The dogs were sleeping.  I should have caught it, but I didn't ... I simply noted the time and went back to sleep ...

Which I was able to do for a couple more hours ... but I tell you what:  that hard arm shove awake really knocked my sleep into a restless, toss and turn, one ...with a sigh, I got up around late mid-morning, I would say.  Went through a usual routine: bathroom ; into the kitchen to let the tap flow into the coffee pot; sit at the computer and light a cigarette ...

I had AOL then.  My welcome screen had a small picture to the right of a burning building and I thought to myself, "My God, Irwin Allen is making disaster movies AGAIN."  I logged into my email...

And one of the first emails was from a dear female online friend who lived in California.  Now, she was a good person, in so many ways, but her entire focus was about what was going on in her own little (and I do mean little - rude little trailer in the woods so deep that meth cookers made a beeline for that county; her family of three) world.  So when I saw the title of her email was "What Happened in NY today" --

I was sitting in an office chair, in front of the desk.  This desk was the mid-point-marker between our living room and our dining room, all very groovy open-plan construction that they have nowadays, so you have to make your own separations with furniture ... I spun around in the chair, grabbed the remote control off the top of the sofa, and

THE WHOLE WORLD STOPPED  CHANGED  WAS BURNED-OUT  WAS BEFORE AND AFTER RIGHT THERE, ON EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL AND THEY EVEN SOMEHOW GOT NY1 DOWN TO OUR CABLE ON A LIVE FEED

I realized that the hard arm shove that had woken me up : that was the time the first tower was hit by a plane.  I believe, firmly, that the God of my understanding was calling on everyone He knew that prayed, to do so - even if they were cozy in a nest of blankets ... I should have gotten the proper signal, but I didn't.  I knew better!  I really pay attention NOW!

I cried.  I shook.  I prayed.  I hugged my doggys.  I tried to call my Dad to see if he was okay, being in Jersey, but he already had the Alzheimer's, so he didn't have any understanding of why all his shows were off the air and how close this was to where his house was (about 50 minutes sitting on a Metroliner).

And then the door opened and my startled to see me sitting there husband walked in.  They had closed the entire college.  THEY HAD CLOSED THE ENTIRE COLLEGE?!

Yes, because the whole world had changed, and would never, EVER be MY life AS USUAL.

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