Blue Skies


The sky is clear as I walk this morning.  Stars are visible. The morning is calm, just as it once was 23 years ago.  

As I head to the bus to go to work the sky is blue; like it was 23 years ago. 

The clouds are puffy and white like cotton candy; like it was 23 years ago.

The temperature is just right, not too hot and not too cold; like it was 23 years ago.

 It is a beautiful day; like it was 23 years ago.

 Until it wasn't.

 Until the unimaginable became reality.

 Lives lost; hearts shattered.

 Hearts that will never heal.

 The world turned upside down.

 A dark end to a day full of promise.

 An end that came too early...a day that was only a few hours old.

 Changed us all forever.

 

We clung to each other.  It didn't matter who we were, what matter is that we were.  That we existed.  The cruel reminder that existence can be wiped out in seconds.  That those we love can be gone in the blink of an eye.  We clung to each other and nothing else mattered but our being.

 Sometimes it doesn't seem real.  It was so long ago and yet it was just yesterday.  It is history to some.  It is a nightmare that comes around every year to others.  It was real, wasn't it?

 It was for me.  I remember it all so clearly and yet time also makes it fuzzy.

 Do we forget?  I'm sure some have.  I have to ask...how can we forget?

 Do we forget until  the date comes around on the calendar again?  The names are called again. The bells toll again.  We are reminded again. We NEED to be reminded again.  The painful memories.  Knowing exactly where you were when you heard.  It could not be possible.  Yet it was.  All playing out on the news in such a way that was unreal.  We could not believe our eyes.  Yet there it was.  

 I look out the window.  The sun rising in the sky, surrounded by fluffy white clouds.  Traffic moving quickly on the highway.  I see a plane in the sky.  I remember.  I remember.

Hold tight to the ones you love.  Smile at the stranger.  Be kind.  Be compassionate.  Do not forget.

On this day we MUST remember.  We MUST tell the tale.  We MUST share the pain.  We MUST share the stories.  We MUST NOT forget.  






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