Frozen in Time

15 years ago today the day started out in a normal way for so many. Couples said good-bye to each other as they went to work. Said good-bye to their children as they went to school. Making plans for that evening, for the upcoming week-end, for the next month. No one was aware of the horrific events that were about to happen that day. The events that were going to freeze the day in the minds of so many!

My 2 year old was playing happily on the floor and I was making plans in my head for the day. Had to run errands, but wasn’t ready to leave the house quite yet. Turned on the television catching the Morning Talk show.  Only to have it interrupted within minutes of me turning it on. Only to have my eyes widen and my heart jump as I saw a plane flying into the World Trade Center. What was happening?? The reporter was confused, was it an accident? Did the plane veer off course, something happen to the pilot? People on the street of NYC were staring upward aghast as the plane hit the building. One moment everyone was questioning what they were seeing and within a very short time later it was happening again! That is when your heart froze.That is when you felt a sinking feeling throughout your whole body.  A feeling that you were experiencing something more horrible than you could ever have imagined. That you were not in a third world, war torn country, you were still in the USA, watching events unfold. Events that left you speechless, that made the tears run and that left your heart frozen in time.

Images are frozen in my mind from that day. Images I won’t forget. Memories of watching news reporters break down on national television. Images of the planes, of the people on the street and the terror in their faces running from the buildings that were collapsing.  Images of the faces of the victims as we heard their stories throughout the weeks and months to come.

I still see the shining face of the precious young boy who was thrilled to be flying for the very first time in his life! He had been granted the honor of participating in the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. His parents were so proud and he could barely sleep the night before. I remember the tears I shed for him and his family as I watched from the couch holding my husband’s hand and my precious daughter.

I remember seriously wondering what kind of world I was bringing my next child into? Would we be in the middle of a war fought on American soil in the next couple months when my baby was due?

I remember how we as Americans united. The lines that were usually drawn between rich and poor, white and black, different faiths,  had become almost invisible for a moment in time. Volunteers of all races and all faiths swarmed to help in NYC. You looked in the eyes of a stranger and you smiled at them in the street. A connection was made instead of everyone being lost inside their own little world.

I remember the story of the wife saving her husband’s voice on the answering machine. How he had called from The World Trade Center knowing he was going to die, but she hadn’t been home to take the call. How would you feel being in her shoes?? I can’t fathom, but I do know this. I do know that she wasn’t upset at him anymore for leaving his clothes on the floor. I believe that she would have loved to bake a thousand more meals, not caring how cold they got as he was late coming home from work once more. I believe that she would give nothing more then to hear his again and to be able to say that she loved him.  That all the little things that may have bugged her about him had instantly grown insignificant, as the realization that she would no longer see him dawned on her.

It can sound cliche, but still is true. Relationships are so valuable.Show your love every day, look past the little details that don’t matter in the big scheme of things. Let your loved one know your heart, don’t hold back. Show kindness to a stranger. Loving others with all your heart, not letting walls be built;  that my friends is something you will never regret!

I know this song has been played many times but still touches my heart every time I hear it.