9/11/2001 was a sunny, beautiful day. The temperature was perfect. It was a Tuesday. 287 was the bastard road it generally is. Everyone has a story, everyone has a hell to tell on that day 10 long years ago. I was 23. HRH#2 wasn't a wish, HRH#1 was a blond brown eyed baby. I still had a father. I was a newlywed. I was heavier. I was driving my little gold chevy cavalier. I was an administrator for a book company. I was an EMT's wife. I was a fire fighter's ex (yea before it was cool). I was friends alot of emergency service people. At 8:46 I, like the rest of the country, realized at that moment that I and we were also Americans. A privilege that was taken for granted until that day.
That is one of the defining moments of history in the country and the world. Everyone who had breath in their bodies knew where they were at that moment when the greatest city on earth was tagged for destruction. When the two pillars that represented the iconic skyline of a city that was a celebrated melting pot was attacked by a group of people who turned our own planes against us. No secret it was a United plane and American Airlines. United American. Take that terrorists. United American. The steam roll of hell came through the Northeast like a freight train. Washington DC, NYC, and the heroic every day people of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Ordinary people that were going to take their and our plane back or die trying...and they did.
We all saw the images on the television. We all wanted it to just stop. We all in some way screamed like our words would get through. We all watched over and over as the towers fell. Everytime they fell a part of us and the quilt of society died some. We all read of the heroics of the firemen that kept going up and up while everyone else went down. We all read of the jumpers, the phone calls, the heroics of everyday people whose only fault was going to work on that fateful day. Going to work so their daughter can be in dance class or their son can play fall baseball, to pay the mortgage or the car or the vacation. We've all heard the stories of the near misses and should've been there's. These stories are the fabric of the day. They are what make up the colors and feelings of that horrible day when we all realized We are American.
I am blessed and thankful that I did not lose anyone on that fateful day. I watched my ex-husband leave, I watched my now fiance leave and I watched countless friends leave. Leave to do their job and their calling. I sat on the banks of the Hudson at the Liberty Park and stared into the pit of hell. I cried I yelled knowing they couldn't hear me. Knowing he couldn't hear me. I willed my friends, the father of my child and my love to come home. I cried. We all cried. We all collected supplies, gave blood, sat in a group and said no words. We prayed whether we believed in God, Allah (yea I said it...read the Koran and you will see what a peace loving sentinel the book is) or believed in nothing, we still prayed. We prayed to survive. We prayed for the will to go on as a broken community and country. We prayed for the broken families and lives. We prayed. We hugged our babies and loved on our families.
The man I married and the man I am about to marry do not discuss what they saw that day. That is the cross they bear. I can't tell their story and I don't want to. I can only tell mine. I can see the sadness in the blue eyes I love every time those towers fall. I can see when he has to walk away to not visualize what they show every year but the problem is that movie runs in his mind with every mention. I want to know. I want to see what he saw but I will never ask. I know what I saw while sitting on the banks of the river on a chilly night in early September.
God bless the souls of those who went to work and didn't come home & the passengers on those ill fated flights. Don't let them be forgotten for being the heroes of their families and a representation of the American Dream. Somewhere out there is a family that's missing Mom, Dad, Uncle, Aunt, Brother, Sister, Husband or Wife. Pray for the moms and dads whose children were lost. They were and are someone's baby.
God Bless those families of the lost that were left behind. Know the country mourns with you not just on 9/11 but every day. These words and thoughts won't take away the pain and I know that but know that you're thought of. Thank you for the sacrifice you didn't mean to make.
God bless the hailed heroes of FDNY, PAPD, NYPD and all of those that went over that day. No matter where life took them afterwards. Brothers and Sisters in Emergency Services past and present will never forget that you were just "doing your job."
God Bless the lost 343/37/23...You are why life goes on for so many. To all of you a Thank You from a humble former EMT Jersey Girl.
To the terrorists...It didn't work. You may have gotten our towers and some of our souls but you also have a fight on your hands like nobody's business. Remember those planes? Yea...United American...We don't forget and will never forget. Through your callous, cowardly and atrocious act you brought us a unified existence where our country helped neighbors, mourned for the lost and strengthened our temper together and you are and will always be our target. We got your guy...Let's call him shark bait...You couldn't even face us yourselves. You used our planes. The best message we have for you is that our life has gone on and we may be bruised and battered but you didn't win. I am not afraid to go to my New York City and you will NEVER make it that way for me. In fact, I will be there tomorrow. The only reason I don't like flying is the take off and landing but you guys don't scare me. This is the greatest nation in the world and your acts of 10 years ago didn't change that. Oh and by the way, you just got told off by an American girl...oh and one more thing We are One Nation Under God and may God Bless America...
http://www.themomblogs.com/
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Charity, Floods, Rain and the power of a Barbie
Yes I make the title work...Trust me...
VENT: I need to stop getting married in hurricane season...
PSA: Read all the way through today peeps. There's some public service at the end and you all know how I loves me some charity.
BLOG: After another 2 hour car ride I am safely entrenched in Basking Ridge...Lord knows how long it will take to get home but I will cross that bridge (if it isn't closed by a crested river) when I get to it. As much as it aggravates me to no end to sit in a car for that long it's not as bad as being evacuated, watching the water rise, etc. etc. I can't complain. I will but really I can't.
I am not going to discuss organization, ADD, my kids, my wedding or blah blah blah...Today is all about the charity. Why it's important, why it's necessary and how it can and will make you a better person. I don't do this for the photo ops, for fun, or anything. I do the things I do to make someone else and myself feel better. To teach my kids how important it is because I was raised on both sides of that spectrum. I was one of the kids that Santa had to visit early at Christmas. I got a Barbie doll. I still have that doll that a stranger gave me dressed as Santa Claus and you know what? He was Santa and I am eternally grateful to him though I will never know him as anything but Santa. I've spoken of my beloved grandfather in past blogs and it is him and that man and, ironically enough, my mother that taught me the charitable spirit. As a child, my mother baked cookies (and if you're part of the inner sanctum sanctorum or the fire department you get some if not you're beat) religiously every Christmas. I mean LOTS and LOTS of cookies involving 2 weeks off of work and baking sun up to sun down. She gave them away. Never accepted a dime for them. We lived paycheck to paycheck and she gave the cookies away. She took people in that had nowhere to go. She gave her time if she had nothing else to give and still does. Time is more precious than money. If she hears of someone that needs help she will move heaven and earth to help and I am thrilled I got that from her.
My grandfather did the East Brunswick Lions Gift Drive yearly. Stay tuned cause I will be blogging the holy hell out of this event...Consider this the first of the bunch...My exhusband inherited it and now it's mine. These families are given to me and I screen them and talk to them and every little girl that asks for a barbie doll gets one cause I was that little girl and the only thing I want and would love to see is that little girl grow up and pay it forward. If that's the only smile she gets this year the so be it but dammit she will smile. I don't believe for a second that a "poor kid" shouldn't be allowed to ask for what the other kids ask for. A kid is a kid and wants what every kid wants and if the EBLC, myself, my family and my friends can help we will. I will never be the star my grandfather was but I will keep his memory alive in this way for as long as I can.
With the recent floods there are lots and lots of our neighbors and friends throughout the state that need help...Reach out where you can and do what you have to. Consider it the start to your holiday season. It will make you and them better people and in this age of technology there is no reason we all can't help (unless you're totally heartless which is your sin...not mine). Below are a list of Central Jersey Resources that you can use for help or to give help. Would it kill you to buy a notebok for a kid that lost school supplies, or a pair of jeans or a onesie...I think not. And yes I did these things and still do them...
Monroe Township/Jamesburg/Helmetta suffered ridiculously with Hurricane Irene. These are neighbors and friends and children that need our help. There are tons of ways on the site for you to do something like cooking a meal for a family, getting some school supplies. sitting and talking over coffee, clean up efforts, buy some school lunches for a kid...just do something...Here's how to help.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=iwanttohelpmonroe
St. Peter's Church (that gorgeous little white one with the cemetery on DeVoe & Main) suffered great damage and is in need of supplies for Sunday School for the children, I spoke with Fr. Shelly and his charm and positivity are contagious. As you can see from the website, they lost the classrooms, hall and need restoration work done on top of other issues. This is an organization that gives back to the community spiritually and literally. Give back to them. Buy a box of pencils, some stickers, some teacher supplies...something. I saw the water coming into the cemetery and it took all I had to not cry. Again, these are your neighbors...Oh and BTW the insurance is NOT covering what happened so help out...
http://stpetersspotswood.org/
For everyone on Facebook...got to Hurricane Irene New Jersey Outreach Page for other ways to help your neighbors. Time is valuable, a box of pencils at Wal Mart is 74 cents...do something...
Be the person that gives the Barbie doll...
VENT: I need to stop getting married in hurricane season...
PSA: Read all the way through today peeps. There's some public service at the end and you all know how I loves me some charity.
BLOG: After another 2 hour car ride I am safely entrenched in Basking Ridge...Lord knows how long it will take to get home but I will cross that bridge (if it isn't closed by a crested river) when I get to it. As much as it aggravates me to no end to sit in a car for that long it's not as bad as being evacuated, watching the water rise, etc. etc. I can't complain. I will but really I can't.
I am not going to discuss organization, ADD, my kids, my wedding or blah blah blah...Today is all about the charity. Why it's important, why it's necessary and how it can and will make you a better person. I don't do this for the photo ops, for fun, or anything. I do the things I do to make someone else and myself feel better. To teach my kids how important it is because I was raised on both sides of that spectrum. I was one of the kids that Santa had to visit early at Christmas. I got a Barbie doll. I still have that doll that a stranger gave me dressed as Santa Claus and you know what? He was Santa and I am eternally grateful to him though I will never know him as anything but Santa. I've spoken of my beloved grandfather in past blogs and it is him and that man and, ironically enough, my mother that taught me the charitable spirit. As a child, my mother baked cookies (and if you're part of the inner sanctum sanctorum or the fire department you get some if not you're beat) religiously every Christmas. I mean LOTS and LOTS of cookies involving 2 weeks off of work and baking sun up to sun down. She gave them away. Never accepted a dime for them. We lived paycheck to paycheck and she gave the cookies away. She took people in that had nowhere to go. She gave her time if she had nothing else to give and still does. Time is more precious than money. If she hears of someone that needs help she will move heaven and earth to help and I am thrilled I got that from her.
My grandfather did the East Brunswick Lions Gift Drive yearly. Stay tuned cause I will be blogging the holy hell out of this event...Consider this the first of the bunch...My exhusband inherited it and now it's mine. These families are given to me and I screen them and talk to them and every little girl that asks for a barbie doll gets one cause I was that little girl and the only thing I want and would love to see is that little girl grow up and pay it forward. If that's the only smile she gets this year the so be it but dammit she will smile. I don't believe for a second that a "poor kid" shouldn't be allowed to ask for what the other kids ask for. A kid is a kid and wants what every kid wants and if the EBLC, myself, my family and my friends can help we will. I will never be the star my grandfather was but I will keep his memory alive in this way for as long as I can.
With the recent floods there are lots and lots of our neighbors and friends throughout the state that need help...Reach out where you can and do what you have to. Consider it the start to your holiday season. It will make you and them better people and in this age of technology there is no reason we all can't help (unless you're totally heartless which is your sin...not mine). Below are a list of Central Jersey Resources that you can use for help or to give help. Would it kill you to buy a notebok for a kid that lost school supplies, or a pair of jeans or a onesie...I think not. And yes I did these things and still do them...
Monroe Township/Jamesburg/Helmetta suffered ridiculously with Hurricane Irene. These are neighbors and friends and children that need our help. There are tons of ways on the site for you to do something like cooking a meal for a family, getting some school supplies. sitting and talking over coffee, clean up efforts, buy some school lunches for a kid...just do something...Here's how to help.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=iwanttohelpmonroe
St. Peter's Church (that gorgeous little white one with the cemetery on DeVoe & Main) suffered great damage and is in need of supplies for Sunday School for the children, I spoke with Fr. Shelly and his charm and positivity are contagious. As you can see from the website, they lost the classrooms, hall and need restoration work done on top of other issues. This is an organization that gives back to the community spiritually and literally. Give back to them. Buy a box of pencils, some stickers, some teacher supplies...something. I saw the water coming into the cemetery and it took all I had to not cry. Again, these are your neighbors...Oh and BTW the insurance is NOT covering what happened so help out...
http://stpetersspotswood.org/
For everyone on Facebook...got to Hurricane Irene New Jersey Outreach Page for other ways to help your neighbors. Time is valuable, a box of pencils at Wal Mart is 74 cents...do something...
Be the person that gives the Barbie doll...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
September Morn...well afternoon
Now that Godforsaken Neil Diamond song is in my head...arrrggghhhh
So happy happy September to all! What a month that's coming.
September is . . . . Self Improvement Month, Be Kind To Editors and Writers Month, International Square Dance Month, Cable TV Month, National Bed Check Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Mind Mapping Month, National Piano Month, National Rice Month, National Papaya Month, and Classical Music Month
Didya get all that? (credit to http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/sep.htm) So...Self Improvement Month...yep. Umm I tried that last month and that was probably why it didn't work.
What a world lately...My babies started school. So did everyone else's kids too. We had a hurricane. We are gearing up for another hurricane. It's the 10 year Anniversary of 9/11 (stay tuned there WILL be a blog about that...). I am getting hitched. So yea alot is happening. Still looking for that neat little way to sort it and box it and organize it. How do you box away a Summer and take out for the Fall when it was never done before? New season, new month, new time. That's my goal. My goal is to get rid of the summer carelessness and get my Fall and wedding, charity and holidays done.
First major accomplishement!! I organized all of both princes stuff for school to present to their father in a neat little bag. I was very proud of myself. My list is still here and some of it is getting checked off. Piece by piece it's getting done. I still don't have a handle on this but I have an accomplishment in trying. I will not lie and say the Junior High Back to School Night was easy for me because in my mind I am thinking there is no way in hell my child will be able to keep up with this pace of organization. There are 3 (count em 3) different places for him to have a book, he needs folders for every class, his homework may or may not be checked daily. This is all something that I am trying to get a handle on to better show him. If I keep my bag organized maybe he will too. If I clean up the house maybe he will keep his space neat. If I use my datebook religiously maybe he will do the same with his homework agenda. I have to have to lead by example or I will be the one that sets him up for failure. I have to dictate a stick to a routine. I have to do this but I have to come up with a plan that works for me and for him. This is one of the "Self Improvement Month" goals.
Second major accomplishment!!! I am getting the wedding stuff done and planning ahead and holding myself accountable for my dates and what happens. I know exactly what I want and I am not budging. I am getting it done when I say I will and it's being done the way I want it. I have the best help in the family and friends that love and support me. I don't want or need a Platinum Wedding...I just need my wedding (to him)...
I am watching my entire llife change in a matter of weeks and I recently got the best advice about positivity. It is true that what I put out will come back to me. I need to put out positive. I need to get it done. In no way am I claiming that life is perfect cause it isn't but I am going to get what I take out of it and if it means leaving something that I used to be behind then so be it. I've done more in the last month that I haven't done in years. I auditioned for a show, I had dinner with a friend, I had lunch with another, I did my job, I've grown by leaps and bounds as a mother, I've travelled, I've planned, I read a book, I volunteered, I'm a class Mom for the best Kindergartner EVAR, I came out of the "blog closet" and told my family I've been writing, I've celebrated with friends and family. Some days are worse than others and I need to jump on the upswing and take it. I get excited about things. I'm in love with a less than perfect person and that's fine cause he's my perfect. I have to learn to plan appropriately and take it as it comes which is a lesson that all of us have to learn at one point or the next.
So yea September is "Self Improvement Month"....
So happy happy September to all! What a month that's coming.
September is . . . . Self Improvement Month, Be Kind To Editors and Writers Month, International Square Dance Month, Cable TV Month, National Bed Check Month, National Chicken Month, National Courtesy Month, National Honey Month, National Mind Mapping Month, National Piano Month, National Rice Month, National Papaya Month, and Classical Music Month
Didya get all that? (credit to http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/sep.htm) So...Self Improvement Month...yep. Umm I tried that last month and that was probably why it didn't work.
What a world lately...My babies started school. So did everyone else's kids too. We had a hurricane. We are gearing up for another hurricane. It's the 10 year Anniversary of 9/11 (stay tuned there WILL be a blog about that...). I am getting hitched. So yea alot is happening. Still looking for that neat little way to sort it and box it and organize it. How do you box away a Summer and take out for the Fall when it was never done before? New season, new month, new time. That's my goal. My goal is to get rid of the summer carelessness and get my Fall and wedding, charity and holidays done.
First major accomplishement!! I organized all of both princes stuff for school to present to their father in a neat little bag. I was very proud of myself. My list is still here and some of it is getting checked off. Piece by piece it's getting done. I still don't have a handle on this but I have an accomplishment in trying. I will not lie and say the Junior High Back to School Night was easy for me because in my mind I am thinking there is no way in hell my child will be able to keep up with this pace of organization. There are 3 (count em 3) different places for him to have a book, he needs folders for every class, his homework may or may not be checked daily. This is all something that I am trying to get a handle on to better show him. If I keep my bag organized maybe he will too. If I clean up the house maybe he will keep his space neat. If I use my datebook religiously maybe he will do the same with his homework agenda. I have to have to lead by example or I will be the one that sets him up for failure. I have to dictate a stick to a routine. I have to do this but I have to come up with a plan that works for me and for him. This is one of the "Self Improvement Month" goals.
Second major accomplishment!!! I am getting the wedding stuff done and planning ahead and holding myself accountable for my dates and what happens. I know exactly what I want and I am not budging. I am getting it done when I say I will and it's being done the way I want it. I have the best help in the family and friends that love and support me. I don't want or need a Platinum Wedding...I just need my wedding (to him)...
I am watching my entire llife change in a matter of weeks and I recently got the best advice about positivity. It is true that what I put out will come back to me. I need to put out positive. I need to get it done. In no way am I claiming that life is perfect cause it isn't but I am going to get what I take out of it and if it means leaving something that I used to be behind then so be it. I've done more in the last month that I haven't done in years. I auditioned for a show, I had dinner with a friend, I had lunch with another, I did my job, I've grown by leaps and bounds as a mother, I've travelled, I've planned, I read a book, I volunteered, I'm a class Mom for the best Kindergartner EVAR, I came out of the "blog closet" and told my family I've been writing, I've celebrated with friends and family. Some days are worse than others and I need to jump on the upswing and take it. I get excited about things. I'm in love with a less than perfect person and that's fine cause he's my perfect. I have to learn to plan appropriately and take it as it comes which is a lesson that all of us have to learn at one point or the next.
So yea September is "Self Improvement Month"....
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