I would like to backtrack to September 11th. Although I wanted to recognize this day my post was not the first on my mind. It was my daughter’s birthday!
That’s right, September 11th,2001 is my daughter’s birthday. She was born at 4:40 in the morning before the towers were hit. As they wheeled me into our room from recovery we turned on the T.V. and there were the images of the towers. Now at the age of five, when we see the memorials and watch the clips from that day, we explain to her that she was born on an important day of history, that she was our families light in one of the darkest days in America.
For the first time in my life I felt the fear, panic, and desire that parents have to protect their children.My husband Ben, had written a journal entry only two days after 9/11/01, and I thought it fitting to post it. A new father’s perspective of 9/11.
September 11th, 2001
LIFE LESSONS
(Journal entry about the terrorist attacks and its impact on America; 9/13/01)
9.13.01
I sat in the hospital room, struggling to keep my eyes open, as the news of the terrorist attacks on America flashed across the television screen. Today would be an unforgettable one, no doubt, but even more so for me as I was experiencing for the first time the indescribable feeling of being a new daddy. Yes, history was unfolding before our very eyes that fateful day of September 11, 2001–yet my life, in more ways than one, would never be the same. I cannot even begin to describe the impact that news of the terrorist attacks had on me as I sat in that hospital room, looking into the eyes of the most peaceful and beautiful little girl in the world, Emily Lynn. I not only felt the blow that all Americans must have felt as a nation, but I felt as if I had personally been attacked myself, as well.
“My God!” I thought . . . yet words failed me as my thoughts turned into the deepest and most intense feelings of outrage and disbelief. I could not have imagined the impact of such events in any other way than to feel the incredible burden now thrust upon me to protect my little girl–so peaceful and innocent–in a most unpeaceful and violent world.
A new era of world politics has begun. This is not the time to reminisce about the past or move blindly into the future. This is the time to make a statement to the world about the uniting force, being the people of the United States–that spirit of freedom and democracy, whose flames, though they be doused with water, will never be extinguished. Indeed, now is the time to rekindle that American spirit, to unite and not divide, to come together as never before, and to raise the everlasting banner of freedom across the world. We must not only speak out against the horrors of terrorism, nor condemn its unspeakable evils–we must act, and we must act as never before, a nation which cannot, and will not, tolerate the deadly forces of terrorism.
“The only thing evil needs to reign, is for good men to stand by and do nothing!”
A special Thank You to our Firefighters, Policemen, and Soldiers who are good men doing something! To their spouses’ who stand behind them so they can serve their country, and their children who miss them so much! THANK YOU!
(Mike, Charisse, Emily, and Lily, whom we have had the honor to meet since his serving in IRAQ…… Thank you!)