12 Years Later...

12 years ago I was driving to Mystic to sign up my 18 month old daughter and 15 month old niece in "Mommy and Me" swimming classes.  I was listening to Imus in the Morning as I did on any weekday morning that I was in the car.  The broadcast that day was different.  Imus was well known for saying some pretty inappropriate things and pulling stunts on the air but this had a different feel to it.  Almost an H.G. Wells quality to it.  I came in late to the broadcast so all I heard were people screaming and a lot of confusion in the background with the occasional loud boom.  At first I thought he was trying to recreate "War of the Worlds" but I quickly learned that it was much more than that...

America changed that day, but not as those who tried to destroy us were hoping.  We were always a strong country but the crimes committed against us that day brought us closer together than any other act had previously.  If they wanted us to cower in the corner with our tail between our legs we weren't going to do it!  If they wanted  us to live in fear of them it wasn't going to happen!  If they wanted to break us as a nation they failed miserably because it brought us closer together than ever before!  And it took us some time but we found the coward that was hiding in his caves and we said to him (and anyone else who got any bright ideas) "Not in MY house"!

Today as I read all of the touching status updates and emotional pictures on my social media page it makes me appreciate, even more, the people that we don't know who are out there every day working to keep our country the BEST country in the world.  But, it makes me appreciate our friends and family who are military just that much more.  The fact that these men and women put a whole nation before themselves is, well, indescribable.  The love that they have for their country and everyone in it...how do you say "Thank You" for sacrificing precious time with their own families to protect mine?  And for those who made the ultimate sacrifice 12 years ago just know that although we don't know your names you will NEVER be forgotten.