Em: So my history teacher talked about 9/11 today
Me: Oh really?
Em: Yea, she asked whose parents have been torturing them with history channel footage from the event..I raised my hand (She seemed smug)
Me: great, thanks for throwing me under the bus.What did she say?
Em: She gave me an "uh huh" kind of reassuring nod
Me: Good for her (that wreaked of sarcasm)
Em: Well then my teacher said she watched 5 hours of footage past midnight because there were no commercial interruptions. So it seems she watches it all too
Suddenly I liked the teacher again. So Mike pointed out that I had taped the George Bush national Geographic interview.........and man we were in for a bumpy night.......... fasten your seatbelts.
I didn't mention one thing about teaching Emily a lesson or trying to make her feel the way I felt on 9/11... because that's impossible. Emily was only a toddler and doesn't remember where she was when America came to a screeching halt. There have been many shows on our American tragedy with sad stories and documentaries, but this one........was amazing. We all sat in our living room watching the footage of our President in 2001 speaking about what happened, where he was, and what needed to be done. Emily watched and was surprisingly very interested. Mike and I would pause the TV to explain certain circumstances about what the President was talking about. We would tell her where we were at the time of the incident and how we were feeling. Emily threw a lot of questions at us about the event that she didn't understand.
1. Why the terrorists did this to us
2. Who was Osama Bin Laden
3. Did the people on the plane know what was happening
4. How many firemen died in the building
5. Why did the second building hit fall first.
She asked lots and lots of questions. We took our time to answer each one the best we could. She also asked "Did we declare war?". My response, "Of course we did Emily! I for one was proud of our President for declaring war. It was needed. Many people protested the war and that is their right. The other day Em I read an article about stories from 9/11 and the dedication ceremony that will take place at the opening of the memorial and it stuck with me. A gentlemen had lost his wife in the first building. She was standing on the floor where the plane hit......and well there was nothing left to bury so this is like her grave to him and it means a lot. He said that at one point he stopped going out because it would really anger him when people would tell him they were sorry for his loss but they don't believe in the war. He wanted them to step into his shoes".
I noticed Emily got tears in her eyes on two scenes. One when they showed the scene where the building fell and all you could hear is the squealing of the fireman's alarms because their bodies were laying still for so long. The second scene was a picture that National Geographic posted of two of their own photographers that traveled with some teachers and students that day on one of the flights. Em looked at me "They died". "Yes hun" I replied. After the show was over Emily came over from her seat and sat next to me on the couch. She said "I get it mom. For the very first time I really get it...how very sad" and she cried.
We take for granted being American and we take our freedom for granted. We forget about those who lost their lives and those who lost people they loved. Everyone was affected that day and we shouldn't forget!
Also, I am EXTREMELY tired! Jude is requiring to be repositioned several times a night. I haven't slept well in.........well three years. SO if I am crabby or incapable of helping anyone this week you know why. I am starting to get sick again which is again from lack of sleep. Jude really doesn't ever wake up. He just moans and cries wanting to be turned over. It's just getting out of bed and the sleep disturbance that is truly taking a toll on my health.
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