Wow. Today is such a busy day and I'm so tired from no sleep last night and a billion errands, I completely forgot it was 9/11. But this day deserves a moment. That day changed my life forever. My husband and I were dating and I remember feeling just total shock and disbelief. He then felt compelled to join the Army to do something to protect people from this ever happening again. I saw this photo from the page of one of my facebook friends (courtesy to Justin April for sharing it) and I'm compelled to share it here. As my eyes filled with tears I just thought how different my life would be if this hadn't happened. It's amazing how the actions of someone I don't even know and people that I will never meet have affected my life. Not just my emotions were altered, but this event set a chain of reactions, that in turn, caused my life to never be the same.
When I was dating my husband and he decided to join the Army, I really didn't think it would affect me much at all. After we married, I thought he would become a teacher or writer. Little did I know I would one day give birth to my third child, my only daughter, in a foreign country without my husband or family present, a strange German doctor speaking a tongue I didn't understand snapping at me for being in too much pain while he stitched me up, all without medication.
I also didn't imagine the places we'd visit or things we'd see. France, Turkey, Croatia, Italy.. I've been to 10 countries and before that day, I'd never set foot outside the U.S.
This event shaped many aspects of my life, because the man I chose to love and care for was passionate about serving his country and doing what he felt was his duty as a man living inside the U.S.A. So had I not been passionate as he, it didn't matter.. As long as I was married to someone determined to help the only way he knew how, I would be part of that lifestyle. And currently, I still am.
So whether I'm retelling the horrors of living a year through my husband's deployment to Afghanistan or whether I'm reminiscing about some of the opportunities to travel our family has had, I never forget. I never forget that if this event has had such a dramatic impact on me. On my life. On one who was so removed from this situation personally..
If I tear up or hurt for the lives lost and feel for the families who have been devestated.. and I have no idea what it really felt like to be in those shoes, then this tragedy is one that not only deserves time to reflect, but it deserves the respect of those who lived it.
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