10 Year Anniversary of 9/11---I Will Never Forget

Tomorrow marks the 10 year anniversary of one of the most devasting attacks on US soil. Most of us are to young to remember Pearl Harbor and the lives lost there....However; all of us are old enough to remember 9/11/2001.

That day will always, in my lifetime, be a rememberance for me. I had the unfortuante experience of being in New York City in lower Manhattan at what is now called ground zero when it occurred.

I watched as the rest of the country did in shock at what was unfolding before my eyes and not knowing what to do or what really was happening at that moment. I remember not being able to use cell phone and walking for what seemed like an eternity to get out of New York with hundreds of thousands of people.

But despite all the tragedy that occurred during that day...I also witnessed some of the greatest moments in my life and ones that made me proud to be an AMERICAN and a VETERAN. I witnessed first responders (firemen, police officers, EMT'S) rush into the buildings with no regard for their own lives to try and save someone they did not even know...They were doing a job. Those brave men and women put their lives at risk to save people like you and me.

I remember sitting glued in front fo the televison for hours on end after it happened for the next few days as they went through the debris looking for people still alive and yet never complaining once. 

I lost a few friends during the devastation that hit New York City that day. I vowed that I would never forget them or that day. As the healing continues, I saw something that made me stop today and write this now. Driving by Presbyterian Hospital in Matthews, NC. there is a banner out by the entrance symbolizing the 10 year anniversary. What got me was located by the pond at the entrance way were american flags. One for each person that died during that great tragedy. The flags are placed under a weeping willow tree.... I stopped and visited that spot a few moments before sitting down to write this blog. I knelt, prayed and cried. I felt my heart fill up with sadness as I remeber watching the people that lost their lives for no apparent reason at all and the first responders who lost their lives trying to save ours.

To all those that gave their life that day and ALL those that saved lives that day and beyond....THANK YOU....I WILL NEVER FORGET.