The younger two were just sitting down to breakfast as I pushed the button on the remote to pull up the day’s episode of Arthur. With the older two off to middle and high school, the goal was to get these two fed and out the door in time to catch the bus for grade school. What flickered up on the t.v. was a trailer for a movie. I flipped the channel and oddly enough the same trailer played on the next. Chuckling to myself at the coincidence, I pointed the remote again. When the same scene played on a third network, I stopped to listen and watch in horror. The broadcaster summarized the previous minutes for me. One of the World Trade Towers smoldered across a clear New York sky. I picked up the phone just as the second tower exploded in flames.
The kids’ dad was a police officer. He’d have insight. He’d tell me if there was anything I needed to do. He’d fill in the blanks. I asked him if he was watching the television. He replied, “Ummm . . . no, I’m working,” spoken in a voice that said, “Some of us have to work.”
I ignored the bullshit and said, “Maybe you should turn it on.”
Everyone remembers where they were that day. How they learned, what we feared, how those around us reacted. The rest of that day and what unfolded afterward is mostly a blur, with the exception of a few things.
I remember the eeriness of vacant skies barring the occasional military flyover. The flags. Flags everywhere. The retelling of unimaginable stories and the tears. The replaying of words into mobile phones by people who knew they were their last. The heroes — those who lived and those who didn’t.
As I near completion of another decade, I’m reflecting on those things that have impacted my life. Today I’m remembering 9/11 and just felt the need to put it into words.
Peace . . .
Beats the Alternative 
I hear you. That’s the one thing we just never seem to get right.Peace. I’m so ready and it seems so elusive.