decade

{via pintrest}

i was 10. telling everyone "almost 11." almost but not quite.

red and blue and green and yellow dress. gap-toothed smile and dark bobbed hair.

flash of a camera bulb. school pictures taken. sister comes next.

little-shoes skipping back to mama, asking why the tears and why was everyone so sad.

television flashes. fire. smoke billowing like something from a movie i wasn't allowed to watch. screaming. people jumping, life gone in a leap.

first one plane. then another. then comes collapse. smoke and screams mingling in horror that flowed like a rapid-rising river from sea to shining sea.

fear. so much fear.

mama, sister, and i at the tea shop. eating my favourite soup in a bread bowl, with big ice cream cones and jelly beans afterwards. mama saying "it might be the last."

phone calls to daddy on her old cell phone.

i love you.

what do we do?

praying. 

God knows.

so many heroes lived and died that day. first responders ran in while hundreds ran out. 

and three fathers shed their hero blood to spare their cities with cries of 

let's roll. 

today marks 10 years. 

that little girl is now 20. the dress has turned to jeans and the teeth have all come back to make a complete smile.

Photo by DramaticElegance
wax memorial in Madame Tussad's, NYC

but the world is now so different. my country is different. 

we have a war now. we have pain now. we have so much hate now. 

turbans and hijabs spell terror to ignorance. be watchful, yes. but hate not. 

it's hard for me to wrap my mind around these children. innocent-eyed angels that don't know. the little ones who wonder why we stand and sing and weep and remember. 

honouring rows and rows of our own heroes today. men and women in our church with medals pinned by our pastor. the colour guard and standing ovations. hands over hearts and red-white-blue at the front. 

the words in bronze hang from my husband, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law. the soliders. the cops. the EMTS. the firemen. they all stood and received the same words of power. 

to honour and respect those who serve and protect.

evil is real. He is stronger. 

the USA still stands. the colours still wave. 

we must affirm Truth. Justice. Love. 

9-11-2001. 

we still remember. 

we still honour. 

we still stand.

You are stronger / You are stronger / Sin is broken / You have saved me. / It is written / Christ is risen / Jesus, You are Lord of all ~Stronger, Hillsong

{linking with hear it on sunday and playdates with God}