I don't like to post things....

On September 11th.  I was in Washington DC when it happened, my husband working for the Department of the Army, and I thought he was in the Pentagon that morning when it happened, so it brings about very emotional feelings on the day for me.....

However, as the day once again approaches us, 14 years later, it feeling like it was yesterday.....I look at my son who is graduating this year and I still see that three year old little boy I was blissfully playing with outside in our back yard that beautiful late summer morning, unaware our world had changed forever. 

Ignorance is truly bliss...and I had never gotten the meaning of that expression fully until that day.

So today a friend mentioned to me the memorial that stands in on the shore of Bayonne, New Jersey, a gift from a Russian sculptor and the people of Russia themselves to those who perished in the attack on the World Trade Center and about the first attack back in February of 1993....when I had been living in New Jersey, my middle daughter only a month old.

I'd never even knew it existed? Did you?  It was dedicated on September 11th, 2006, I mean was ALIVE and watched the news that morning and I did not see one single thing about it.  Former President Clinton dedicated it....but I don't remember anything about it....I wonder why that was....maybe I just missed it or maybe it was just so small that it was not covered nationally....

Anyway.....see, I'd been to Bayonne many times, I had a very close friend of mine from when were at our first duty stations and she and her husband were were now stationed there when it was an Army installation....and I living about an hour or so away at the time made it very easy for us to visit.....Bayonne, NJ was a small place, but the people I met at the Post very welcoming....it was my first experience into stairwell Army housing too and I thought to myself, that it was rather quaint, but then she was a remarkable woman and I miss her very much.

I remember one late afternoon walking with her and our children and stopping to look over at New York and looking at the World Trade Center as it stood so majestically unshaken earlier that year after the first attempt to blow it up in 1993....and now as we stood in the cold air blowing off the bay, the sun setting and the beautiful sky providing a colorful backdrop, they towered above a city descending into evening darkness....and I thought to myself, what an unshakable Nation we are so very blessed to be living in, even terror can't knock this house down....how wrong I'd be proven.

It's all memories now, every trip I took to New York in my life, every drive past the World Trade Center....but I will never forget that afternoon standing there with my friend and our children, who are all grown up now and watching the sun go down with it's last reflecting rays trying to find a surface to shine off of.....in those beautiful, magnificent.....lost towers of our past.....

But never forgotten.....

911 Memorial Site

From the 911 memorial website, the artist's story

To the Struggle Against World Terrorism: A History

The artist, Zurab Tsereteli, was in his home in Moscow on the morning of September 11^th. The television was on as he was getting ready for work and Zurab, like the rest of the world, was glued to coverage of the attacks on the Twin Towers. He watched the towers collapse on TV and was moved to tears. 

That day, he went to work at the Academy of Art driving on a route that takes him past the American Embassy. People were gathered outside the embassy gates to pay sympathies, to be together, and to mourn. He saw a mass of crying people and decided to use the image of a tear in a memorial. 

He set to work that day on a proper and appropriate form through which to express his feelings over the attack. He went through many various sketches and 'forms' (all of which are chronicled in the yellow book) until finally deciding on the current monument's form. 

Zurab traveled to NY shortly after the September 11^th and went to ground zero. The ruins were still steaming. He decided that he wanted to create a memorial to the victims; but that wouldn't want to build on top of the bones of the dead on the ground zero site. He began to look for an appropriate and fitting site on which to erect the memorial. 

Zurab spoke with friends and colleagues who were in NY during the attacks. He heard stories about how boats and ferries were used to shuttle survivors away from the Twin Towers. He also learned about the New Jersey residents who worked in the towers. Zurab decided to look for a site in New Jersey, where the monument could be on the waterfront and settled on a never before seen area of the peninsula at Bayonne. Here, the World Trade Center was the backdrop to the waterfront, and so, the backdrop of life. The site had been a military instillation, and the town had decided to convert the land into public park-space.

From this vantage point, the Twin Towers looked almost as if they were in fact one building. His bronze monument reflects that image with a jagged tear through the center, and a 4-ton nickel tear hanging from the top. The tear represents not only the sadness and grief over the loss of life on 9/11 and previous attacks on the World Trade Center, but also hope for a future free from terror.

Additional information and photos

The monument has several reflective elements, so that the visitor becomes part of the memorial. The nickel tear is shiny and mirror like. The granite name plates which make up the stand for the monument, and on which the names of the victims of all who perished on September 11th are etched, is also shiny and reflective.

This is the "TEAR DROP" made and installed by the Russians to honor those who died in 9/11 and a statement against terrorism.  The tear drop is lined up with the Statue of Liberty.

 

 

The walkway is made of stones.

I'm editing this today, September 4th, after thinking of what I'd written and I hope after reading the entry, you go a little further.  

After thinking about this entry this morning, I realized something.....even though this post was about the towers and what was lost in New York and a memorial dedicated in New Jersey, I don't want anyone to think that for one moment I think only of what was lost in New York that fateful day.

As I stated we lived in the DC area at the time and had many friends who worked at the Pentagon and knew those lost when they crashed that plane into our beautiful headquarters. The 9/11 Pentagon Memorial there is beautiful and walking through the benches that are placed delicately on the Earth and the way the names are placed of those lost on board as plane approached the Pentagon and the situation of the names of those who perished within the walls of the great building is quite a site to behold, and should you ever find yourself in Washington, make the trip to see it.

I have never seen the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, but I've seen the video of it and is so very moving it brings me to tears, a sad reminder of what the passengers and crew members aboard flight 93 sacrificed in their actions that saved many other lives  as they thrwarted the attack on our Nation's capitol, sacrificing their own.

A Thank you......

So I have to say that blogging has not been on my mind in so long I can't remember the last time I logged into this account to even look at it....and that is a shame since this blog saved my sanity during my husband's 15 month deployment so many years ago....

I looked through my blog list today and like myself so many of my long lost blog friends have abandoned their blogs, they sit with their last entries as a memorial to their lives, lives lived during a time when we all relied on our blogs to keep ourselves connected during a time when we thought that without the connection we shared, we thought we might lose ourselves.  Perhaps that was true, but what have we lost by losing touch with that part of us.  I know that I put so much of what I wrote into draft form, not leaving that vulnerable part of my heart, my soul, open for the world to see after it, the deployment was over. 

What was it about sharing that part of myself that was okay during such a difficult time in my life that was okay, but then, as the days ticked by afterwards, I looked back and decided that I no longer wanted my personal thoughts open for scrutiny by the world?  Am I the only soldiers wife, the only warriors wife that felt that way? 

I still find as I reread those entries, and see the outpouring of comments supporting me through those tough days, when I did not know if I was ever going to see my husband again and now, like then, thank God for my blog friends.  They truly were my lifeline, as this blog was, at the time, a world that I never knew would be the one saving grace in my life....why did it take 7 years in reflection to come back and to say it...for now there are people who either will not remember me that still blog and those who no longer blog or have, like I said, have left their blogs sitting as an empty reminder of what we were to one another.....blogsphere friends.... 

To each of you, thank you from this Soldier's Wife for what you were to me back then, I would never have gotten through it without you or this blog.

Divorce Agreement

The person that wrote this is a college student. Perhaps there is hope for us after all.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY WELL PUT AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al: We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

--Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

--We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.

--You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.--Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

--We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel.

--You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

--We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.

--You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.

--We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.

--We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood

--You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.

--You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

--We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.

--You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

--We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volt and Leaf you can find.

--You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors.

--We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

--We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."

--I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".

--We'll practice trickle-down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

--Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall

Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin & Charlie Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & ( Hanoi ) Jane Fonda with you.

P.S.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.

Forward This Every Time You Get It ! Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sinking In.

National Medal of Honor Day 2009

Congressional Metal of Honor Society

By COL Robert Howard (USA Ret.
Medal of Honor Recipient

When I joined the military in 1956, I was like many young men my age who enlisted; I wanted to protect the ideals of this country and also build a career. Little did I know that my experiences would lead to a Medal of Honor, and how poignant those lessons would be even now—53 years later—during our current national hardship.

Just after Christmas in 1968, I was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled Vietnam. We had just left the landing zone when we were attacked and many of us critically wounded, including me. For the next three and half hours, I had one choice: to lay and wait, or keep fighting for my men.

If I waited, I gambled that things would get better while I did nothing. If I kept fighting, no matter how painful, I could stack the odds that recovery for my men and a safe exodus was achievable.

Today on National Medal of Honor Day (3/25) —an annual tribute that I and other recipients humbly appreciate—I encourage Americans to recognize that in untenable situations, selfless people make the difference.

The Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,448 times since the Civil War, and I’m reminded regularly by my fellow recipients (only 98 are living today) that extraordinary things can be accomplished by ordinary people from all parts of America.

Hard times ask us to put a greater good before our own interests. It is sometimes physically or emotionally painful. Yet throughout history, you will find common men and women who fought selflessly in a variety of ways for something so much larger than just their own benefit.

Today, we’re fighting terrorism and the spread of tyranny. We’re challenged by market upheaval, joblessness and perhaps hunger. But the human spirit is resilient and can withstand more than sometimes we are able to immediately comprehend.

It’s up to each of us to not lay and wait for better days, but instead look for opportunities to make the lives of those around us better. National Medal of Honor Day is not a celebration. It is a solemn time to reflect on the freedom we enjoy, its price, and how our own bravery can improve the world around us.

COL Robert Howard (USA Ret.) is president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Hey Remember that Stimulus Check Everyone Got

Last year......don't forget, it wasn't free money......it reduces your income tax return by the same amount this year.....

Don't get caught off guard by it when you have to enter it when doing your taxes this year......and make sure it is the right amount before you hit submit on that section of your taxes, because if you don't, it will cause issues for you and your tax return......when in doubt, check the amount, you can do that here, the IRS has ways of checking that, you know....

Ain't tax season grand.