Below is an email I sent to my friends and family earlier this morning. More so than any year before, I have found myself wiping the tears from my face as I remember this day. I sent the email to a handful of people and was wonderfully surprised when they started thanking me for sending it and telling me that they forwarded it on to people they knew because it said what they wanted to say but could not. One of my friends sat at her desk and cried… she said she was fine with “the day” until she read the email… but she was grateful I sent it.
People think of this date differently and feel different things from what they remember and what they know. I decided to forward it on to more people and again, I was met with thanks. One lady told me it caused her to look upon this day with a new prospective.
I am filled with pain from this date and I worry for the future, but this morning I felt it was time for me to share with others as I now share with you. Tomorrow I start a new life but I will never forget what has happened nor will I consider this date “just another day”.
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:36 AM
To: Names Removed
Subject: My Son’s Amazing Goals
It’s amazing to me how fast time goes and usually I notice it when I think of the fact my son is actually 17 years old. As many of you know, he has joined the Army National Guard and will be going into basic training during the summer of 2009. He will be attending college for four years after that and will not be deployed unless we become involved in a “new” conflict. With so much going on in the world these days, he may end up having his college interrupted to defend our country.
He has made it a goal to make this a career as he will go from the National Guard into the Army as an officer after college. Therefore, he may indeed see himself in a situation that takes him from our loving arms and into the arms of a conflict. Perhaps that is why this year’s anniversary of September 11, 2001 (Patriots Day) is affecting me so greatly. It’s the knowledge that my son may be leaving my side to defend my freedoms that I hold so dear to my heart.
Although I find myself in tears at the thought of him simply moving down the street to go to college, I am very proud of his decision to defend his country and have such a lofty and wonderful goal for his future. He is a wonderful young man! I am afraid for his future when it comes to what he may face, but I have never been more proud of anyone in my life; he is more than I could have ever dreamed.
May we each take the moment necessary out of this day and any day we feel the need to remember those who have gone before us in defense of our freedoms.
