I was a senior in high school.
It was ISTEP testing week, so we had one of our classes in the auditorium.
When I got back to a regular classroom, the TV was on a news station, and I asked out loud, "What's happening in our fine world today?" having no idea that America was under attack.
For days, it was all we could think about or talk about. Watching hours of news footage. Reading of the wide scope but also individual stories of lives forever altered.
Wondering...
Will we go to war?
Will my brothers be drafted?
Will anything ever be the same?
Patriotism was at an all-time high. Our school even played the song over the loudspeaker: "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..."
I'm a lifetime away from that high school senior
and yet that high school senior is still inside of me.
I often spend the 9/11 anniversary reading memoirs or historical fiction related to that day. One of my all-time favorite audiobooks The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff. Fascinating and gut-wrenching to hear so many personal accounts from so many different angles.
This year, the day has come and gone with hardly a thought of 9/11 aside from reading some Facebook posts and reflections
But I'm proud of the way I spent my day...
I spent it in the Word and in prayer when my day first started
I spent it at Friendship International with over a hundred women from around the world who have found themselves in Lexington, Kentucky for this season of life
I spent it with four Japanese women around my table sharing lunch and playing a board game
I spent it talking with my husband
I spent it preparing food for a guest to come over for dinner
I spent it in reflecting on countless good memories from the past few years on trips taken as a family
Reflecting
Building bridges
Preparing a table
Thanking God for all the good
In math language, subtraction is what makes a difference
but I've found that these small kindnesses add up to make a difference
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