Seven years ago today.
Sep. 11th, 2008 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
derekl_1963I had planned on sleeping late that morning... I'd been up late the night before and it wasn't going to be an easy day - a friend in the model railroad club had died and his funeral would be that afternoon at the base chapel.
Brenda, as is her habit, checked the news when she got up and quickly woke me up. I remember sitting in the living room (this was in the duplex) with the bright morning sun streaming in, groggy over my first cup of coffee and utterly unable to comprehend what had happened. The rest of the morning is a blur, spent waiting between phone calls as we arranged an alternate location for the service and watching the horror on TV again and again.
I remember sitting at the service watching Kathy and the kids (both of whom were in their late teens at the time) - the day was bad enough because Rich died young, and now this.
I remember sitting at the Big Apple Diner afterwards... The conversation avoided the two elephants in the room - that all of us were Rich's age or older, and the events of that morning. The sun was now in the West and shone through the windows of the diner like it had through the glass doors of the living room.
I remember thinking how horrible it was that they day should be so bright and so dark.
If I drive past the cemetery on Kitsap Way on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day I can see the flag over Rich's grave... And in an instant I cannot help but relive 9/11. So I avoid doing so if possible.
The Blue Man Group's composition on Sept 11, Exhibit 13.
You really have to see this on a TV, where you can read the scraps of paper...
Brenda, as is her habit, checked the news when she got up and quickly woke me up. I remember sitting in the living room (this was in the duplex) with the bright morning sun streaming in, groggy over my first cup of coffee and utterly unable to comprehend what had happened. The rest of the morning is a blur, spent waiting between phone calls as we arranged an alternate location for the service and watching the horror on TV again and again.
I remember sitting at the service watching Kathy and the kids (both of whom were in their late teens at the time) - the day was bad enough because Rich died young, and now this.
I remember sitting at the Big Apple Diner afterwards... The conversation avoided the two elephants in the room - that all of us were Rich's age or older, and the events of that morning. The sun was now in the West and shone through the windows of the diner like it had through the glass doors of the living room.
I remember thinking how horrible it was that they day should be so bright and so dark.
If I drive past the cemetery on Kitsap Way on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day I can see the flag over Rich's grave... And in an instant I cannot help but relive 9/11. So I avoid doing so if possible.
The Blue Man Group's composition on Sept 11, Exhibit 13.
You really have to see this on a TV, where you can read the scraps of paper...
