Patriot day + 1 reflection

Yes, it's the 12th of September and I feel like 15 years ago and one day, were almost a blink of an eye, and a lifetime all at once.

I remember that day. Much is blurry, but the terror is real--the unknown, the ruthlessness, the destruction are unnerving. I still see that today.

I lived another life, and when I go near where I used to work on September 11, I even see people who used to work in my building. We're not friends, but I still recognize them. They still work at the same place. They've aged just like me.

But occasionally, I come in costume in my scrubs, when the local food trucks pull outside and I'm in the neighborhood. My job now warrants a weekly trip from one campus to another, so it's on the way back and I stop for lunch. The building have new names. The company I worked for has been bought out multiple times.

If I close my eyes, I still remember that life.

The world has changed, and so have I. I don't worry anymore about what could have been there. I realize that life is living and I'm doing it every day.

Fifteen years and a day, I pray still.

More later....

This day

"Memorial Day this year is especially important as we are reminded almost daily of the great sacrifices that the men and women of the armed services make to defend our way of life." -- Robin Hayes

Thank you for your service, Uncle I., killed in action in France, 1945. We remember.

Always remember...

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

Thank you Uncle Max. You gave your life in World War II far from home crossing a river I lived to see in peacetime even though I never met you.

Thank you Skippy, injured in the jungles of Vietnam. You wore your scars every single day I knew you.

Thank you, all veterans, who gave your lives for the cause of freedom or died later as a result of it, on this Memorial Day.

We remember you and we remember freedom isn't free. You paid the ultimate price.

I remember

We lost a local hero recently. He was from my old neighborhood, and my family knew his family.

He was a Navy man in Korea. "Cold, cold." was all he would say about it. But beneath the wavy dark locks turned white was a smile that lit up the room. He was a hero on the seas of war, and on the sports fields.

Eventually, this government employee turned sports coach led NCAA championship teams, not once, not twice, but for years. He became a legend at my alma mater, PrivateU. Legions of kids in town went to his sports camps to learn from the youngest man who played on a legendary team that brought down an international power house in one of the biggest upsets ever.

But to me, he was a neighbor, a friend, a man who told a good story about what our town was like in the old days, when ethnic groups stayed close together for support. How the community went wherever they needed to help each other. Because Mom said, "I want you to always be a good person."

After I heard the news, I went online and I watched the interview I recorded for the local historical society and smiled.

His stories live on in a web site dedicated to the area, for a man who was a hero, father, family man, neighbor, coach, and friend.

Godspeed Tom....and may you get all the goals in Heaven, before the clock runs out.

Can't remember a thing?

Yes, another installment from RehabRN, who today, is enjoying another installment of how many times can you take your car to get repaired while you're on vacation. (At least, I have time).

Check out this opinion article I read today: Sexy ruses to stop forgetting to remember (courtesy www.nytimes.com)

I don't like cottage cheese. May have to add chocolate pudding instead for Russell Crowe or George Clooney to wallow around in . ;->

Now I know why...

Nurse K on the night shift posts signs all over a patient's room, intercepts the breakfast tray, and yells if she has to in order to keep people NPO.

If I'd have followed her lead, I would have remembered today was the day for all those tests...that required me to be NPO....arrrgh!

Better luck tomorrow...