i love you america- 9/11

10 years ago, i was almost 9.

it must have been early in the morning, because i remember waking up to the sound of 

my grandma watching the tv with my mom.

i heard the worried tone in their voices and rushed into her room

because i thought something had happened to my dad.

nobody spoke to me as i came in,

but my attention was quickly diverted to the smokey building on the screen.

what was going on?

oh, it must be a movie.

wait, no, it's on the news, so it must be real.

but why?

what's wrong with it?

after that, my mom explained that a plane had crashed into the building.

i couldn't understand why something like that would happen.

it was mere minutes before i saw the second plane,

my mom kept saying, "it's gonna fall, it has to fall soon"

and it did.

both of them.

i remember being so confused,

wordless,

breathless.

i was only 8, but i knew something was terribly wrong

& could only slightly comprehend the severity of the situation.

i didn't go straight to school that day

because i had a dentist appointment,

but they had the news on the office tv

and the radio was on.

nobody was talking

nobody was smiling.

later that day my dad asked me what i thought about "all of this".

i wish i could have pulled my thoughts together into an intelligent sentence, something along the lines of:

"why is this happening? who did this? that osama guy must be pretty bad. it hurts. i feel so bad for all the family members in that building. is america okay? i'm glad you weren't in that building. what's going to happen now; will this happen again? should we be afraid?" however, i didn't want to seem silly or melodramatic.

so i just shrugged my shoulders and said, "i don't know."

but i did.

i guess that, in a way, my 8 year old brain couldn't see what the rest of the world saw

or couldn't imagine someone being that evil

or a tragedy of that magnitude happening here in america.

but it did.

and, as cheesy as this sounds, 

we really shouldn't forget how america came together, and how strong we really are.

i'm glad i can walk out of my front door on a daily basis and not be scared or afraid. 

i'm so grateful for america; those fighting for it, and those who died for it's cause.

i pray that God will continue to bless America, that he will take those who died on that one day 10 years ago in his arms & say, "see what they can do?" as he continues to comfort their families down here. 

actually, i really don't know what i'm trying to say.

but i was there. 

& i love america.