9-11 memorial

On September 11, 2000, my good friend C discovered her mother had passed away in the bedroom, only in her 40s. This day of mourning belonged to her before it ever belonged to America. The terrorist attacks not only stole lives, but took away a day that should have been private. Today I remember C before I remember NYC.

Just the same, it is impossible to get through the day without someone somewhere mentioning memorials. I happened to be down near Rutgers when mom left a voicemail. "Please, if you can, stop by at the memorial that 99.1 FM is doing. If it weren't so far away I'd go myself, but you will be passing by it on your way home."

The memorial in question was organized by a local Christian radio station. I believe the idea for it was based on the old saying about people who have to step up and fill your shoes when you leave a position. The premise is that when those people died they left a lot of empty shoes to fill. Listeners were asked to donate shoes in memory of lost loved ones. Mom asked for pictures, so I figured I'd stop in. Its been an emotional week anyway, and September 11 is just icing on the cake... if cake is equivalent to tears. That made no sense, but yeah that's the frame of mind I'm in right now.




The kid was kind of acting up, but this is him calming down, and a second after I snapped the picture, he moved in and gave his dad a hug.


2000 pairs of shoes...


Today was appropriately rainy.


Fireman's boots.


"Your granddaughters are beautiful; last week their daddy was inducted into the Yonkers Fire Department, please be with him."


My friend's father was a firefighter. As we both graduated from high school, and then college, I periodically thought of him. She's married now; I hope heaven is like the Family Circus clouds, where they look down on earth like they're watching TV. I hope he's enjoying the view.







I had to go back to the car for tissues but then I walked around again. Driving home, the rain became torrential. I was going 45 in a 65 zone, and couldn't see the cars 20 feet ahead of me. I had to follow a car with trouble lights on because I could see the yellow lights. Red taillights were invisible. I didn't mind though. It seemed appropriate, like all of heaven is crying today.