5 years ago today

5 years ago today started out innocently enough. Then I got a phone call from my friend who worked in the same building I did and that innocence was shattered. She told me about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center buildings. I then rushed down to her office because she had a television. We stood together and cried. Then we prayed together.

When I got back up to my office, I called Thornton. He was home with Alison, who was only 2. I hated being separated from my family, but I wasn't sure if I should go home or try to keep some sense of normalcy. I immediately emailed the Patrick and Rachel's teachers and asked them what, if anything, the kids would be told. Rachel was in kindergarten and her teacher was amazing. She assured me that they weren't going talk to them about the tragedy, feeling that the parents needed to be the ones to talk to them. Then she told me she'd give Rachel a hug in my absence.

I took off early from work so I could be home when Patrick and Rachel got home from school. Thornton and I sat them down and tried to explain what had happened. I know they didn't grasp the magnitude of it all....I'm not sure I even did. We prayed together as a family for those who lost their lives.

That night our church family gathered at church to mourn and pray and hold each other up.

In the days and weeks that followed, America was different. While we had experienced great loss, we were somehow a better people. Everyone united in tragedy, but it brought out the best in people. Flags flew, every store marquee in town was emblazoned with positive thoughts. I felt blessed, oddly, to have experienced this black spot in history. I wish that feeling remained. Now, only the negativity of the tragedy remains....and that's a shame.