In Dev’s History class they were discussing 9/11 events. I love that Dev brings school stuff home. So, we shuffled through some pictures and talked about what she remembered. I think she has more memories of us talking about it, as she had just turned 5 when it happened.
We were in Florida at the time, Sean was in the Air Force, serving the last year of his 4 year commitment for his academic scholarship. It was a normal morning; I had dropped Dev off at pre-school and was walking her older sister into her first grade room when the secretary’s office had a group of parents gathered around….
It was a very small town, it’s only purpose really to support the Air Force base. Everyone knew things would change quickly. With in 2 weeks we were saying our good-byes to Dad as he deployed to “undisclosed” areas. So the girls and I moved into that weird mind set of “wait and see” Our Air Force friends were amazing and supportive. The girls have some good memories of parties and sleep overs. For Christmas that year we chose to visit Sean’s family (he was still deployed) in New York. We took the train to the city, saw the remains and a few sights. It was very moving.
Family in NYC Christmas in NYC after 9/11/01
Then in the spring Sean came home, YEAH!
Welcome Home Dad, spring 2002
Some how it is all very unreal, more like a story I’ve heard than a story I get to tell.
Here is Dev’s journal entry last night after we looked through pictures.
Dev’s Journal about September 11. Written on 9/12/12
I hope and pray for peace daily. Deep respect to all that serve for our safety.
1:20 pm
Great Post. Love Dev’s account of those days. If more people had hearts like you and Devon peace would abound, until then I guess I’ll just pray and never forget.