Happy Birthday Man, As We Do Not Forget

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is a repost of the last two years 9/11 post, with a few edits to bring it up to date. 9-11, Ten,  Eleven, Twelve Years Later, We Remember, Two Opposing Emotions

Has it really been 10 , 11, 12 years?  Hard to believe, but true.

Yes, we all know and remember where we were on that crisp, sunny, bright, September morn 10 , 11, 12 years ago.  As family historians have you recorded your thoughts, your view points, your fears, your concerns?  I did, in an abbreviated form and it is recorded in my data base.  Pretty much this is what it says:

Man's birthday, I had cooked him a large breakfast, eggs, meat, french toast. At some point, I walked into the front room to glance at Good Morning America (who knows why, I just did) and at that very moment the second plane flew into the World Trade Tower. I saw it hit. And we spent a good part of his birthday watching the television reports. Later that evening, our boys came to celebrate their father's birthday. We called around and found a restaurant open, we went there. Business was very slow. The world surely changed that day, freedoms limited, security increased.

Man had retired just 9 months prior, on January 1, 2001.  We were adjusting to retirement, reasonably healthy.  We were having a birthday celebration, and in just moments, our lives and those of everyone we knew, of the entire world, changed.  Really changed.

And, never again, would Man's birthday be the same, because it was now linked in some weird way to the events of 9-11.  Each September 11th is now bitter sweet, his birthday and the memories, always the memories.

Lest we forget - - - those lost on that horrific day.

And, Happy Birthday Man!

* Photo of Mt. Rushmore taken July 3, 2011.  Photo of Man taken in Arches National Park.

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