Remember 12 years ago

Like many of us I will never forget where I was 12 years ago. It was a glorious sunny day and what happened at the World Trade Center was beyond understanding. It was prior to mass use of social media, so we logged into a desktop news channel to see what was happening.

I am trying not to judge, but I am struck as I watch the news this morning about what the news is as we approach the time when the first plane struck. I don't know whether to watch CNN or NBC because neither of them are talking about it yet, but promise a moment of silence. Grief is like that though, each year we get further away from our intense feelings of loss and we move on.

My first reaction was to connect with my family members. My Mom and Charlie were in Bermuda and George and Judy were in Europe and the rest were accounted for in the US. My immediate family were all accounted for. Bethany's school was not telling the children what had happened.

That evening we gathered at First Parish in Lexington and fortunately many others had come to this house of worship to try to process the days events.

I was in the middle of a quilt that I later named "Shattered Comfort" that is on the wall in George and Judy's bathroom. Quilting allowed me to listen to the news but not have to review those awful images again, and again and again.

Our company lost an employee and many friends living in Manhattan were incredibly impacted by this horror. Everyone we talked to knew someone in Manhattan or on a plane. It was too close for comfort, this attack on the World Trade Center.

Where are we 12 years later, Obama is faced with a horrible decision in Syria, home of more of our enemies. I am quilting the exact same quilt pattern that I was quilting 12 years ago. However, this title will not be the same, it will be "New Beginnings".

What I do every year on this date, at this time is review where I was 12 years ago and then allow the optimist in me to gradually pull myself out of that grief and focus on what is good in this world and in human nature and in humanity.

But first, that moment of silence..........

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad