10 years is a long time.
And yet, it’s nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The family of Michele Coyle-Eulau still miss her desperately.
The friends of Brett Bailey, Chris Dunne and Johanna Sigmund still gather many times a year to honor them and raise money in their memory.
Those who were there at Ground Zero still remember with complete clarity what it was like to be there.
I used to think that there would come a time when I would look up in the sky, see an airplane and not think of 9-11. But in ten years, that day has never really come.
I hear the roar of an engine. It’s just an airplane, I think. There are thousands in the sky every day. But in some ways, it is everything. Because it catapults me back. Watching the second plane practically on video loop. The towers. The loss. The incomprehensible loss.
Whether we wanted it to or not, this tragedy has defined a decade and perhaps the official end to my generation’s youth.
I was thinking about what I wanted to write on September 11th when I learned of another tragedy.
A wonderful, delightful mom blogger, Anna See, lost her 12-year-old son in the recent floods. Her 12-year-old son. I can’t quite wrap my head around it. It’s unbearable.
Loss is loss.
Whether it happened on September 11th or some other day that should have been average with errands and deadlines and a messy kitchen but instead turned into something completely awful.
Michele Coyle-Eulau, a mother of three, is desperately missed.
Brett Bailey, Chris Dunne and Johanna Sigmund, three friends who all had so much ahead of them, are desperately missed.
Anna See’s 12-year-old son, who had just started the 7th grade, is desperately missed.
My friend Lanie’s two baby sons, Jake and Sawyer, who died so young, are desperately missed.
I ask you on September 11th to remember those we have lost on this day and every other day. Remember them. Love them. Honor them.
I do it every time I hear a plane roar overhead.
19 Responses to and on this day we remember
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kelcey kintner
Never forget.
Thank you for putting into words what I could not.
Never forget, never surrender.
I remember. Thank you, Kelcey.
Three days later, on Sept. 14th, is when I lost Darren. Its a surreal feeling, but sometimes I think that if he had to go anyways, I wish he went with the victims of 9/11 because then he could be memorialized forever. Weird thought, huh? But instead, we continue to plug away for his cause. You are right, loss is loss, no matter when or how it happens. He will never be forgotten. Thanks for your post, Kelcey. (I hope all is going well with you and the family are hanging in there.) xoxo
Kelc, thank you for remembering. xoxo
This was beautiful Kelcey…
Oh, we remember. Comfort and peace to all…
I like the idea of turning our fear into honoring those lost.
Thanks, Kelcey.
Beautifully said.
No words.
I have two sons who are Marines who have been done tours in the Middle East, and I pray that their service and the service of those like them will one day allow you to feel safe and find peace.
hug your babies tight, tight, tight, even if by now they are taller than you are, or older than you are when you gave birth to them. There simply should not be so much grief in the world, although perhaps there always have been and now we’re all so much more quickly connected, we just see and hear about more loss. These losses defy language, defy nature.
Thank you, Kelcey. I’m going to go into the room where my kids are sleeping, now, and just listen to them breathe for a little while.
I know the 10 years have passed a lot more slowly for some than others. It’s a sobering time.
I want to thank you for this post. I have spent the afternoon reading about Jake, Sawyer, and the twins. Clearly it has been a weepy afternoon. I know I will never forget them or their mother and father.
heartbreaking post. but so well said. hugging my little ones tonight. thinking of you too! xo
I too remember. I watched the second plane hit with my 6 kids watching too. We are right between two major Canadian cities & in the flight path with planes flying over several times a day. My kids remember me yelling at the t.v….”get them out, get them out, the buildings are going to collapse.” They didn’t get out & they did collapse. So much sadness.
Thank you for honoring the souls we have lost in a very touching way.
Kelcey, as much as I dread this day each year, I find myself looking forward to your Septemner 11th post because it always helps me put my feelings into perspective and it says just the thing I feel like I need to hear. So thank you, thank you, and know that you are having a positive impact on me today.
My 17-month-old daughter, Baguette, loves airplanes (also helicopters). When she hears one, she’ll twist around to see it and then track it through the air.
I’m so glad she can love them.