September 11th thoughts

September 11^th   

9/11

 It’s one of those dates, a combination of numbers that strikes hard as soon as you hear it, isn’t it?  15 years ago and yet I still recall so clearly  - as  I’m sure everyone does -  the moment that just turning on the news, or catching an internet reference seemed to freeze life and mark a point after which things would never be quite the same.

It doesn’t take a world horror like that September day.  My beautiful sister in law went out of the house on the way to work one day when she was 36. We  don’t know what happened exactly.

Only that she crashed the new bright yellow car  she was delighted with and she never came home. The rose we planed in her memory still flowers on her birthday and her wedding anniversary - that's on Tuesday   and the glorious blooms are there  now to mark the date.

So the thought of all those thousands who went through that terrible experience 15 years ago today still tears at my heart.  

Every time September 11^th comes around, I remember  a poem by Dawn MarieHuddlestone called If I Knew . It contains this verse:

IF I KNEW

If I knew it would be the last time

that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss

and call you back for one more.

 But the trouble is, we never know, do we?

When the Babe Magnet and I were in New York, we went to Ground Zero and tried to honour those who never came home from that event.  That huge great space where two huge great buildings had once stood, each of them teeming with thousands of people brings home in the saddest, shocking way how quickly today can become the past.   And  how terrible the words ‘if only’ can be.

Which brings me to another great quote:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.

Nobody seems quite sure who originally said this but it’s so much in my thoughts today.

On a day of remembrance, I hope you and your families can share a hug for this present.