Remembering Sept. 11th.

The month of September was going along in the ordinary pace of life. I went to a casual barbeque with some good church friends on the 8th of September in Seymour for a fun filled afternoon with meat on the grill and a fun time catching up on our lives. Fun to see my friend's two dogs and being able to fellowship amongst the cows in her home.
Never did I imagine when I awoke for the journey to Milford that the world would be changed forever. My world changed forever that summer morning. After going through an ordinary routine in the office of sorting the reports for the morning and settling down for the preparation of credits, a news flash came on the radio that day that a plane crashed into a New York City office tower. At first, I thought how could that be possible since that never happened before in America. I thought that it may have been a small commuter plane that lost its bearings. Then I realized the magnitude when more planes began to crash and to hear of the carnage. Workers paused and stopped to listen in disbelief and our drivers and salesmen called in to tell of the happenings in the city.
Announcements that morning into the afternoon focused on N.Y.C. and the bravery.
I knew my cousin worked in the city but did not know where. Then I later found out that Bruce worked in the towers on the 51st floor. By God's grace, his company made it out alive but was covered with soot and ash. He had to make the long commute across the bridge to his apartment, but he was welcomed home to the arms of his wife.
Out of those ashes, new lives emerge as my cousin and his wife, Laura were able to start a family and life continues to go on.
But the images back then captivated the spirit of America where all tried to help out however they could. I was a distant part of it seeing it from a distance 60 miles away via television and radio. But the spirit and pulse of this nation brought it much closer to God. If we could only be aware of the presense of His spirit in these times. But tragedy looked at from the view of the survivor is not the same as the perspective of the view from those whose lives were transformed on that sunny morning of September 11th, 2001.

The First of the Year

Many firsts are happening at this time of year. My niece started kindergarten. It is neat to see how excited kids can be at the beginning of a new school year as they venture out on new projects in music and art.
My local church just started up its own preschool program which will provide many children similar joys of beginning to learn how to interact with peers their own age.
From my side of life, the mall in milford, Ct is beginning its major expansion that resulted in a rerouting of the bus stop. Just a different pitter patter of footsteps in the morning. A local grocery store is being mega sized this fall.
A nice thing about change is that it will create a different landscape and a new sense of awareness. I like the comfortable stable pattern to life, but the buds of the springtime have to emerge to become leaves. So , we must adapt to our environments to become all that we can become!!!