Remembrances

I remember the phone ringing. I thought to myself, 'it is way too early in the morning for my phone to be ringing after working the 4:00 to 1:00 shift.'

I look at the caller ID.

Something is wrong.

I am instantly awake.

My best friend, Courtney, is screaming at me. Terror is dripping from every word like teardrops. "Turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!"
"I don't understand!" I yell back. "What's wrong, honey? What's wrong?"

"Vanessa, just turn on the g-d TV!"

I fumble for the remote, every cell in my body aware that I am about to be forever changed, I just don't by what, but I know by who. Courtney never yelled at me. Why is she yelling at me? 'We don't fight. This is wrong.' I am already crying and I don't even understand why. Fear grips me like a vice.

I finally find the power button on the remote. The TV comes to life just as I watch my city, my first home, in flames. And, then it happens. What I will learn later is a second plane slams into the south tower of the World Trade Center. I look at the clock above the TV and scream. 9:03am

"Holy s--t! I don't understand! Holy s--t! Courtney, what just happened?!? Make it stop, Courtney! Make it stop!"

"I know, baby. I know." Her voice is soothing and scared.

We cry, weeping huge sloppy tears, and embrace one another through that phone line. That morning, I felt almost 1500 miles melt away snow at the first sign of Spring.

I know we will never be the same.

I rarely ever talk about that day. Occasionally, I still dream about it in the surrealistic style of a Dali painting or an Escher drawing. My mind has found its own way of processing the nightmare.

This is the very first time I have ever written about the events that took place on September 11, 2001.

NALT

I love all of my amazing Christian friends. You nourish my soul and my heart. You make me proud by loving me, and helping me to live my life out loud and be nothing but my true self. YOU are the TRUE Christians. I am so happy you are in my life!

http://notalllikethat.org/

Random Confusion

I'm a little confused...just found out that Tokyo got the 2020 Olympics. It didn't go to Spain who has an amazing record of civil rights for ALL of its people because the IOC was worried about their economy.

Japan has a leaking nuclear plant slowly poisoning more and more of its citizens everyday and causing thousands of birth defects in the country's newborns.

Hmmm...wouldn't you think it would have made more sense for the Olympics to go to Spain? The games would boost the Spaniards' economy while celebrating their civil rights record. But, oh wait...that's right...this is the same IOC who continues to allow the Olympics to take place in the atrocity that is Russia.

Good grief!