Never Forget

I've shared the story of that horrific day before, and last night I shared again with Julia for a homework assignment.  It is amazing to think that my 21 year-old daughter was so young at the time of that attack that I don't think we told her on that day.  Zach still honors that day every year.  He was in kindergarten, and all of my kids have grown up in a very different world from the one we knew before 9/11.

Yesterday I heard a couple share their story on the radio.  They lived mere blocks away from the Trade Center and evacuated to New Jersey. As they waited for a way out in a nearby park, they said goodbye to each other.  She left in her pajamas with no shoes. After ten years she was asked to share her story at her church.  It was then that she realized that she had some baggage she needed to deal with regarding that day, and a book about that experience would be five years in the making.  I am sharing the link to the book here.  Of course I bought it because the Kindle edition was under $4.  Honestly, I struggled a lot with those attacks and probably couldn't have read this story any sooner than a full decade or more after they happened.

Out of the Shadow of 9/11

So my book list is growing, so many books so little time - also on the list: I am Rahab and Gangster Prayer

Closing Time

We closed the sale on my parents' house today.  Even though Dad has been gone almost three years now, and Mom has been gone more than eight and a half, this somehow felt like losing them all over again.

I took the kids over on Sunday to wrap up a couple of loose ends and took some final pictures of the only place most of them remember as their maternal grandparents' home. Both Zach and Savannah were a bit sad that all the cousins who had gathered in that house were not there for those final pictures. My hope is to hire a pro to get family pictures and to take the cousins picture again soon.

It was the place of egg hunts and holiday gatherings.  Joshua's fireworks shows.  Grandpa's junk food stash that was always open for the kids to raid.  It was the place where Mom might join the family in a Wii game. I can remember the exact spot where I set up my first cell phone and the exact spot where I sat when I learned that Mom had pancreatic cancer.  It was a refuge in the storms.  Even last year, my family slept out a power outage on a really cold night in that cozy basement.  It's just a house - a thing of this world, but many memories were made in the 15 years since my parents purchased that home.

I am reminded that this life is but a vapor, and a glorious reunion awaits us.  Oh to hasten the day!  I know it will come in a blink.  I plan to be present in the here and now and to seek joy in every day.