Never Forget... 14 years later

14 years...Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday I was a college freshman with my whole future ahead of me..

That's where I was 14 years ago, starting college. I wasn't even dating my husband, my two kiddos were just a dream & I didn't know where I was going to live or what exactly I was going to do when I "grew up".

9/11..We will never forget, how could we? Tonight I will read my kids this book. The Little Chapel That Stood. To them, it might just be another story.

To us, their parents it will forever remind us of a historic moment in history that we lived through.

A day we will never forget.

 A few years ago I was able to travel to New York (yep, this small town girl went to the big city!),  I had one free day before my conference and I spent it visiting all the sights of New York.

Starting with the not yet finished 9/11 memorial. It was slated to open on 9/11 of that year. I visited the chapel in this book, which has been turned in to a mini museum & another area that is also a museum now. You can check out my pics here.

These pictures do not do justice to the feelings and emotions I felt on my subway ride to the location. "It must have been chaos here.." "wow I would be claustrophobic,,"  Then I arrived and looked up... There it was, The Freedom Tower (still under construction) it all of it's majesty. A sign of  hope, a sign of peace, a sign of freedom.

I spent hours down there just looking, taking it all in, reading everything, praying, crying. It was emotional. To watch it on television when it happened was emotional too, but to be THERE right there where it all happened.. that was a whole new ball game..

The stories, the artifacts, the pictures.. It was like I was stepping into history itself. Something I lived through, something I watched happen, something that changed this country forever. That is when history came alive for me.

I will never forget everything I saw. Today I take time to stop an reflect, on all of those that lost their lives on 9/11. For a moment in time we were a country united. There were no boundaries, people united, we came together & helped one another. There was sorrow, but in that sorrow we became stronger, we reached out to one another, we helped one another and we loved each other.

To all of those that run in, when the rest of us are running out, to all of those who are or have dedicated themselves to protecting our country, to those that work to keep us safe, Thank You.

We Will Never Forget..

So tonight, when I read my kids the book, The Little Chapel That Stood, I will try not to cry, I will try to answer questions & I will try my best to explain what happened that day that changed us all forever.

And when they get older and can understand more, I will tell them what they want to know so that they Never Forget what happened on 9/11/2001.