Where were you? Five years ago today I was sitting in my living room, holding my toddler and crying. I was in shock and I was terrified. My little tiny girl was living in such a scary place. A place where terrible things happened to good people. As the week wore on and the stories surfaced, my heart filled with pride. My fellow Americans banded together in the face of crisis to help each other. Many lives were lost that day. I remember trying to call family and friends. I had family in NYC and in DC. Thank God, my family made it o.k. My sister was in India and it took me hours to get through to her. But everyone was o.k. And while I said my prayers of thanks, I said prayers for the families that were no so lucky.

Five years. My children know nothing other than the last five years. Morgan was only a year old when the towers came down. They will never know a world without threat. It's sad.

I'm going to pass on a poem written about this...

This is long but worth the time.WHOEVER WROTE THIS SHOULD STEP FORWARD AND CLAIM IT!THE WORDS ARE POWERFUL:TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN (2001-911)
Two thousand one, nine eleve
nThree thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait
A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"
They settle down in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."
Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."
From a man on sticks one could hear"
The only thing we have to fear.
"The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
Trust us sir, we've passed that test."
"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,
"The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores
A silence fell within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day
"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons
We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"
The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"
Then, before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must
Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell, but not alone
"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."
Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '45
The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow -- but I don't see fear."
"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
Are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.
All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one.
With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
Three thousand plus heroes,
Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven
Author UNKNOWN (What a shame!)

September 11, 2006, will soon be approaching.On this day, please wear red, white and blue to work or school to show your support for thosewho lost their lives on 9~11~01 and to honor the heroes who worked to save them and the families left behind.

At noon your time on September 11, 2006, no matter
where you are or what you are doing, stop, put yourhand on your heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance out loud or to yourself and say a prayer for our Nation. In addition, for those of us who drive to work, please drive with your headlights on to also give honor and remembrance to those who perished on September 11th.If all of us do this together in every time zone round the world, we will have a powerful chain of thoughtssurrounding us. Please keep this going to your friends and family.

And my photo for the day is one that was taken last year, but is sitll one of my favorites.