Today is the anniversary of a day that any American alive nine years ago will remember. The destruction of lives and families that occurred on this day nine years ago was unfathomable. The memory stays with one just like the explosion of the Challenger Space shuttle or the assassination of President Kennedy. The difference between the other events is how many lives 9/11 actually touched. The attacks of 9/11 were on such a great scale, greater than we have ever experienced and it rippled throughout. It destroyed families, friendships, and shook our nation's belief that we were safe from harms such as this. These sorts of attacks happened elsewhere, not on our soil. We were wrong.
My heart goes out to those who continue on while still experiencing the loss of the loved ones missing from their lives.
I remember that day well. My husband (we had just started dating 2 weeks before 9/11) and I worked together at the time. He was on his way to an on-site meeting in Indiana. After he left for his meeting, I received a call from a supplier who shared with me that the towers were under attack. I was in shock. At the time my husband did not have a cell phone and there was no other way to contact him. I knew he was driving through downtown Chicago to get to his meeting and all I could do was worry. Chicago, being a financial center, and a large one at that, very well could have been on the list of targeted places. We were luckily spared. Sadly, other places were not. When he returned to the office I was so relieved. I have never been so happy to see someone return as I was him. Not long after, he asked me to marry him. We were married March of 2002.
Nine years later, I am experiencing the destruction of my marriage, which oddly began in March of this year when my husband decided that he would have an emotional affair with another married woman regardless of our happy marriage. This would be the same woman he went on date with this past weekend disregarding the fact they are both are still married. I have to believe something good will come out of this destruction as well. This is something on a significantly smaller scale, but one which affects my life completely and has created large ripples in the lives of those affected.
I make it a point to remind those I care about how much I love them and never leave them angry. The events of 9/11 reinforced my belief. I also like to believe that something good can come out of all destruction. As with the phoenix,
“The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise.”
(Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra )
I hope this is true. We all have struggles, challenges and sadness in our lives. For those dealing with their own struggles, challenges and sadness, I wish you all peace, a heart large enough to forgive and the gift of love.
