9/11 - my heart is still grieving

Created by Martin J. Betters

The boys are now old enough to understand what happened on 9/11.  Let me rephrase that, they know the facts (for the most part), but they can't understand WHY someone would commit such an act of evil nor can they understand the gravity of what happened.  I'm trying to explain it to them so that they CAN understand, but I don't want to scare them.  I had to end today's conversation when they asked how some people died and some people survived.  When I got to explaining how if you were on the floors around where the plane hit, you were gone on impact, I knew we got to a part of the conversation that was passing "informational" to " too much information".  I want them to KNOW without giving them nightmares.

I had nightmares for months after 9/11.  I was 31 years old and 4 months pregnant and I couldn't process exactly what happened.  I can't expect my 9 year old and 7 year old to understand or process this information in a healthy manner.

The 10 year anniversary of 9/11 has opened wounds that I thought had healed.  Apparently I just soothed those wounds and ignored their pain.  I wonder if this is how people in the 1940's or 1950's felt about Pearl Harbor.  I remember every nuance of that day 10 years ago.  I also remember the pain, sorrow and fear that I felt in the days, weeks and months afterward.  I remember hearing a sky silenced of air craft that day.  It was so eerie.  The only air craft heard was the occasional helicopter.  It felt surreal.  A low flying jetliner or the sound of a helicopter (which flies by our house frequently) will make my hair stand on end.  And I'm immediately drawn back to the memories of September 11, 2001.  Part of me hopes that I can forget and part of me, the bigger part of me, hopes that I NEVER forget.

I used to post pictures of the Twin Towers every anniversary.  Then someone reminded me that it would be like watching your loved one die over and over again.  I don't want to add to someones pain.  But I do want to remember.  This 9/11  I will be saying a special prayer for all those that lost their lives, the families left to deal with aftermath, those still fighting so that  we are safe, and for everyone that is still affected by that horrible day.  I pray to our Lord that we, or anyone else, never has to deal with such horror again.

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Readings for mass Sunday September 11, 2011

Mass Readings 9/11/11

These are the same exact mass readings read the Sunday following September 11, 2001...