Kevin It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the 23rd year mark of the tragic events on September 11th, 2001, known as Patriot Day 2024, where we remember freedom, and never forget. The day started out as any other day would. But what nobody knew back then was the amount of planning from the perpetrators, which was years in the making. Before I go any further, it’s time for a content note. Today’s post contains mention of ppl who have passed on, as well as mention of terrorism, murder, and violence from September 11th, 2001. If any or all of these things count as something you’re not in the headspace to hear about, I encourage you to give today’s post a miss, and go check out some of my other stuff instead. We’ll kick it together some other time. Deal? However, if you decide to move forward w/ this post, and brings up some rotten feelings for you, then I encourage you to reach out to the ppl at the Crisis Text Line.
Think back to what you were doing in the evening hours of September 10th, 2001, or the morning hours of September 11th, 2001. Me, I was in high school science class. The night before, well, that’s something I’ve completely forgotten about. I think I was either watching TV since my mom had work that night, and I was by myself for the night, or I was holed up in my room listening to either the radio or the album I was obsessed w/ at the time. One of the two scenarios for sure.
I often wonder what the ppl who were there on 9/11 were doing the night before. I know one mentioned he was watching Monday Night Football on a documentary I saw in the years that passed since then. Maybe they were all having dinner, whether it was w/ their families, roomies, or by themselves in front of the TV. Or maybe some of em were sitting by the window, watching trains or traffic go by, or watching the sun set.
Think back to what you did in the evening hours of September 10th, 2024, or what you did this morning, September 11th, 2024. For me, I went to bed early, since I wasn’t feeling so good after I got home from my day job. I’d already had my lunch packed for today, ready to grab and go after chucking it into my lunch bag. I fell asleep watching the sun set through the curtains, since I could barely make it through my nightly reading material.
I slept until 4:30, when the alarm went off. I’d long decided that waking up at 5am wasn’t good enough anymore, so 4:30 it is, no matter the cost. I had a breakfast outside my usual meal-prepped stuff. This time, it came from a can, along w/ some caprese salad I made the other day. I got ready for my day job, and rode my bike there. I was at another location. I’m bouncing between two buildings, the one I was at today was one I’ve been at before, so I was familiar w/ it. It’s a similar distance from my house, but the ride is less strenuous. It’s also somewhere I pass by during the summer months from time to time.
I rode toward the building as the sun came up, the classic country AM station faintly coming in on my headphones among the static. I wished everyone could’ve been there, riding bikes along w/ me. I wish you readers coulda been there too.
It saddened me to the core knowing that was the last sunrise they saw, and September 10th was the last sunset they saw.
And for what? A bunch of extremists hell bent on self-destruction, and looking to drag everyone else down w/ them.
No thanks to their selfish, heinous misdeeds in life, one of us is missing, 3000 of us, for that matter. 3000 ppl never got to see another sunset. They never got to finish that great book they were reading, watch that neat new TV show, catch up on the latest issue of Glamour or Cosmo, go to the baseball game, watch another episode of Monday Night Football, go to the golf course to see some old friends and play a round, go to the park and play tennis, see what’s new in the world of Kate Spade or Christian Louboutin, finish an art/sewing/knitting/woodworking project, get home in time for Oprah, or be there for the new season of Law and Order SVU.
3000 ppl never got a chance to grow old, retire, and become AARP members. Many were expecting babies, and those babies died w/ them. Others were planning to have kids in the near future, and that near future never came. The kids these batshit extremists murdered never got a chance to graduate high school, and one never even saw kindergarten.
That kills me on so many levels, and I’m the age many of the victims in the towers were at the time. I can’t even begin to picture the turmoil, pain, and suffering they were in during their last moments in life. Whatever I can picture probably won’t even begin to describe it.
The tragedy of 9/11 goes to show just how short life really is, as one surviving family member said in another documentary I saw. Life is indeed short, and it’s so easy to lose sight of that. I’m guilty as charged of that myself. It’s so easy to get caught up in yourself, so damn easy.
In loving memory of the victims of 9/11, the survivors, and their families, I’m holding space for y’all. To those who’ve passed on, may y’all rest in peace.
Over to you, readers. What will you be doing today? Will you be remembering someone specific, or a group? Were you there on 9/11? Did you know someone who was? If yes or no to either or both of those, I’d still love to hear all about where you were. I’d also love to hear all about your thoughts and takeaways, so let’s talk.
