i will never forget

Ten years ago today, I was sitting in a doctors office. I was 16 years old.

I was pretty sick, but I heard someone tell my mom that a plane had crashed into a building in NYC.

That was SO far away from small-town Alabama that I just kind of brushed it off.

Then I heard a collective gasp as the nurses and patients gathered in the waiting room

 watched the second plane fly into the building, live.

I remember thinking how sad it was that all those souls went to meet Jesus and never knew Him.

I remember the day our President declared a war.

 I didn't know anyone in the military at the time, so again....

it seemed so far from home that it didn't really affect us.

But then I met and married a USAF Airman in 2005,

 and I've spent the past six years waiting with bated breath.

 Waiting for that moment that may never come, or may come before you're ready.

Yesterday, my mom & I were having lunch and the TV beside us was tuned to CNN.

They were talking about a second attack that they were trying to stop.

I had to ask the server to turn it.

 My stomach literally fell to my feet and I was holding back tears.

Because now? That war is not far from home. It lives in my house.

I will never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.

 I will never forget the lives that were lost,

the heroes that died trying to do something, anything, to stop the hijackers.

 I will never forget the firefighters, police officers, constrction workers, civilians, etc.

who have aided in relief efforts since that day.

I will never forget the men & women who have participated in the military efforts.

But most of all -- I will never forget the sense of patriotism our country experienced in those months, and how our relationship with God grew stronger.

Oh, how I wish we could get that back.