9/11

Even though Matt is gone for now, I just wanted to take a quick second and tell him as well as all members of our military, Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
I can't believe it's been 7 years since 9/11 , but I remember that morning like it was yesterday. Forgive the cliche phrase. 2001 would have put me in 8th grade, which means it took place during the time Matt and I were "going out" for the first time. The news was on in my kitchen and at first it looked like an accident. But I remember our phone kept ringing. I used to walk to school with our friend Josh, and by the time he had walked up the street to pick me up on the way to school, everyone knew it hadn't been an accident. Matt had come out to meet us that day and walked a few blocks with us before he hopped in Doug's land cruiser and went to school, too. I remember them talking about war and that maybe there would be a draft. But what I remember most was Matt saying he would enlist before it came to that, and Josh agreed he would do the same. It might be dumb that part of what I remember most of the actual day of 9/11 is something my crush and one of our best friends said, but it threw the whole day into perspective for me. All over the country kids our age were having the same conversation, and all over the country girls were wondering if their boyfriends would be drafted. Maybe the draft wasn't as big of a discussion as I remember, but I was 13 and don't know if my memory was impaired by my crush at the time, and worrying about if our friends would go to war. All I know for sure is how much enlistment rates jumped; how many men volunteered to leave their families and serve in the military, and how patriotic our nation was at the time. It makes me proud of our country that we came together, if only for a little while. No matter what your political stance or opinion on the war, we should all remember 9/11, and take a quiet moment to think about the firefighters, policemen and civilians who lost their lives that day, and all the military members who have since. "Today marks the seventh anniversary of the day our world was broken.It lives forever in our hearts and our history, a tragedy that unites us in a common memory and a common story ... the day that began like any other and ended as none ever has." -Mayor Michael Bloomberg.