Do you remember ?????????

Tomorrow again marks the anniversary of the day America was attacked on our own soil...

Do you remember ......

where you were when you first heard ? Your thoughts ? That deep anguish for those lost and their loved ones ? The sheer anger that someone would dare to attack us here on our own ground ? The helplessness as the towers fell ? The desire to hold those you love a lil tighter for just a lil longer ? The need to go back a new flag , magnets for your car, to show those BASTARDS that all they did was prove that Americans will stand tall ? The prayers you offered, for the victims, their families, this country ????  DO you remember the tears shed as you watched the rescue efforts on tv ???

I do ....... I remember it all in great detail and as the day approaches again..... I again deal with the feelins of helplessness, the devastation, the tears , the flashbacks and the nightmares....

I was there after with a SAR team for 2 weeks....... Our only rescue was a crippled dog but it was a miracle for us and made every minute we were there, hot and tired and cranky and scared out of our wits worth it......

I'll never forget my first look at the ruble , the ruins of the towers.....

You see I didn't see the destruction of buildings.....

I saw people, lives gone long before they should have been, children now orphans, husbands and wives now widowed, parents that lost their children,

And mostly I saw the 343 Brothers and Sisters that had given their lives .........

Their spirits haunted those grounds every moment of every day .... You could feel them walkin among us while we searched, holdin our hands steady while we treated one another for cuts and bruises and fatigue, stress...... They gave us the strength to go on when we had no strength left after 24 hours of straight searching. The dissolved the pain in our bodies, the aches, the burns , they numbed us as the rubber of our boots melted under the heat. Gave us breath when we could no longer breath through the ash and heat.... The mental strength we needed to search and gather body parts, pieces of clothin, jewelery, dental fillins anything that might lead to an absolute id so that the families and friends might have some closure ........

I walked among those spirits and am honored to be able to say I have done so.....

So tomorrow as you go about your day take a moment and ask yourself

Do You remember ?????