I could not come up with what to write yesterday so I wrote nothing. Late last night I was watching a special on a news channel that was called something like
9-11: as it happened. It was anchors who were trying to figure out what was going on and just showing the non stop photos of that image no one will ever forget. I remembered where I was when it happened. I was in the Mail Room in
Vilseck Germany . . . school had just let out and one of my fellow teachers said something like, "have you heard the news, two planes just hit the Twin Towers." Now I thought what are the odds that two planes hit those huge buildings . . . as I left post they had already started putting soldiers on the gate . . . lots of soldiers. I rushed home and turned on our one news channel . . . how could this happen in
our country? I quickly flipped to the other channels (we only had 6 total) and they were showing families gathering with signs and just so very emotional. I think I sat and watched this for hours and cried like I had never cried before. We would all learn that our country was under attack. Our post was locked down . . . school was closed for days but I never had a sense of being uncomfortable since I was in a foreign country. Sean was in the field and I wondered would he be pulled for a bigger mission? I never really thought I had a personal connection to the events of September 11 until last night. It took me almost 4 years to realize that if this event would have not happened Sean would have never gone to Iraq and would more than likely be with us today. I guess my mind isn't that sharp these days. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the day our country changed and how our life was forever changed.
I got an email from someone I don't really know with a reminder that yesterday was Patriots Day and to fly your flag. I wanted to reply and say every day is Patriots Day at our house . . . flag is up 24/7 with a light unless high winds . . . which thanks to Hurricane Ike it is coming down later today since we are suppose to have winds up to 50 mph. I also remember the commercial that used to play right after 9/11 that showed a row of houses with someone talking saying that they changed our country that day and then showed all the houses flying our flag . . . sadly it doesn't happen now.
Okay, so how do camels fit into this post? After Sean arrived in Iraq he sent Colin at stuffed camel . . . I displayed it on his shelf and now it is in his room. It is probably one of the only things Sean was able to give Colin so it is special. This week at his
Pre-K they are studying the letter C so today was show and tell . . . I was pondering what to take when it hit me last night. I got up this morning and had the camel sitting by his clothes . . . he saw it and started asking questions. I told him it was a special camel that his daddy sent him from Iraq before he went to heaven. He was okay and then said, "so he isn't in heaven any more?" I managed to answer and he seemed content. He was so excited to share about his special camel. I can only image what he tells the class. So this weeks photo is of Sean with camels in the background . . . it was framed and next to the stuffed camel in Colin's old room!
Have a great weekend . . . thinking about our friends near the coast and hoping they are all safe.
