Hang on to a dream

I was telling my sister's kids about 9/11 again last week.

We've told them stories about it since they were young.

This year we saw the 9/11 memorial in NYC.

They wandered, fairly disinterested, around the memorial-

 stopping to listen to their mom and I explain what all the names meant.

 After a few minutes they ran out without a backward glance when we told them we could leave and go get some hot chocolate.

And this week, they watched the videos on Youtube with the same fascinated disbelief I see on their faces when they watch a slightly scary episode of Scooby Doo.

"That's not real is it, Aunt Lori? There's no such thing as monsters"

I hope that; as young Americans, they learn about 9/11 and have increased appreciation for their home land and the sacrifices made by others-

But I also hope it always stays a little unreal for them.

I hope they never have a morning like we all did on 9/11/01.

A morning where you watch people jump out of windows and see planes crashing into buildings and you feel sick and numb and keep thinking

"How is this my country? How is this real?"

I was far from my family on 9/11- well, if you call Illinois far.

 As a missionary who couldn't call home except twice a year, it felt a lot farther than it actually was.

But I called home that day.

I just wanted to hear my dad's voice say

 "It's alright, kid. We're going to get these guys and everything is going to be alright".

But even after I talked to my dad, I still felt sick and lost.

He couldn't make everything ok.

Nothing would ever be OK again.

 Not like it had been before that day.

I've said this before and it never fails to come across as a little melodramatic but I have always felt that my childhood ended on that day.

I remember standing at this gas station, seeing the Burger King flag already at half mast, and it felt like the world was spinning around me.

Like one of those scenes from a movie where the camera does a panoramic view.

I think I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life.

God bless all of those who lost someone on 9/11.

 God bless all of the first responders who sacrificed their lives.

 God bless all of those who continue to serve.

 And please, God bless America. 

Lori Ann