Do you remember where you were and what you were doing the day the towers fell? I do... Do you remember how you felt when you heard the news that it was a terrorist attack on our own soil? I do... The body count kept going up... the videos kept coming in... the tears of the people that were there and couldn't find their loved ones...
I was at work at a suicide/crisis hot line. We were all glued to the television. Our callers were sad, scared, heart-broken. Some had loved ones unaccounted for and didn't know how to handle it. We even had a volunteer who's son was at a meeting in one of the towers and he couldn't reach him. (side note: he was okay. they got out before any planes hit)
My sister was in the Army at the time and I frantically tried to reach her once the word "WAR" crept in. She was stationed in Hawaii at the time, so she hadn't heard or seen anything about it. I called, told her what was happening and she started describing the scene on base. It was a long line of cars trying to get in and it was taking forever, because they were searching EVERYONE. She was doing life guard training at the time, so she was in her bathing suit. Once she finally got in, they closed off the base. No one in or OUT... but she was not in her uniform, so she couldn't really do anything. So she just sat around and watched all the heavily armed guards walk around, wondering what was going on.
Our biggest fear of course was that a war would start and she would be deployed. By the grace of God, she wasn't. Eventually her future husband was... but he had to have knee surgery, and could not deploy. He was upset, but we were really happy he didn't go over there.
So it's been 8 years. The war is still on. MANY soldiers lives have been lost and changed forever. Families shattered, both here and over there. Osama is still hiding out somewhere, but I truly believe we have to support our men and women over there. They risk their lives every second they are there. My cousin, Tyler, is actually serving over there right now. I pray every day that he is okay and will come home, once again, safely.
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU MEN AND WOMEN - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE (like Tyler's little brother, Hunter who just joined) - WHO CHOOSE TO SERVE AND RISK THEIR LIVES FOR ALL OF US. YOU ARE TRUE HEROES.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND KEEP YOU SAFE
