A 9/11 Moment, Past & Present

9/11/2001--I was a nineteen year old sophomore in college and had just gotten back to my apartment from class that morning. I turned on the tv (probably to watch The View) and then continued to stare and gawk at the tv with my hands covering my mouth for what seemed like forever. My roommate was not home so it was just me and the tv and my thoughts as I watched the horror that unfolded on the screen. I was completely in shock and it really didn't hit me as to the magnitude of the situation until days later. At this point we were at war and I was realizing that this was a real life moment in history that I would one day be telling my children about....

9/11/2011--While getting ready for church on Sunday, I was sitting on my bed not getting ready (because I'm always exhausted by any movement). I had turned on the tv while Jeff was in the shower and I was watching the memorial services for all of the 9/11 victims. As I sat amazed at the memorial site in NY and saddened by the tragic events that occurred 10 years prior Rilyn came into the room. He had heard the music by Paul Simon (I believe) and saw all the people and said "Are they having church on tv?" I told him no, that I was watching a 9/11 memorial service.

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This is the conversation that occurred after:
R: Whats a 9/11 memorial service

Me: Well, 10 years ago two really big planes like the ones you want to go for a ride in crashed into two really tall buildings called the twin towers in a city called New York.

R: What happened?

Me: When the two planes crashed, they killed a lot of people that worked in those buildings and on those planes.

R: Why did they crash into those buildings?

Me: Well there was a really mean guy that didn't like the United States of America and he wanted to do something really mean so he told his friends to crash into the buildings.

R: What are those things that people are coloring? *people were copy shading with chalk,pencils,pens...I don't know the word....the names of their loved ones from the memorial plaques that had all the names*

Me: Well you see all those letters that are on those black boards? Those are all the names of the people who died that day because of that mean man.

R: Whoa...That's a lot of names

Me: Yeah...it sure is. It was a very sad day and still is.

R: If I was on one of those planes or in that building and I was stuck and died would you miss me and be sad like those people are?

Me: *At this point I'm tearing up* Are you kidding me, yes! Mommy and daddy would be very very sad. We never want anything to happen to you ever! We would be so so sad. *And now I'm full on crying. I look over and Ri has tears in his eyes* Whats wrong baby?

R: Its just so sad that all those people died and can't see their families anymore. *Now he is full on crying*

Me: *I grab him and pull him to me* Its ok baby...all those people are in heaven now and they will see their families when they make it to heaven too. And you know that bad guy?

R: Yeah...

Me: Well America went to war because they were really mad about this happening and they found him and now he can't hurt anyone anymore. We live in a country that keeps us safe and protects us. That's why people love living in the USA. All those army guys that you see on tv go find the bad guys and stand up to bullies. Everything is going to be ok because we live in a great place...today was just sad because people remember what happened and it makes them mad so we pray and remember.

R: Ok
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I am SO not good at explaining things to a 5 year old. That's Jeffs job. Almost as if on cue, the water stops and out walks J as soon as I'm done talking and Ri and I are sitting there all teary eyed while I hold him. Pretty sure J had a wtf look on his face (actually I know he did). He asked what was going on and I started crying again and walked into the bathroom to tell him all about it. I told him that he should have been the one to tell him about it since I'm so hormonal. J reassured me that it wasn't the hormones...that if he would have had Ri ask him if we would miss him and saw him crying he probably would have lost it too.

As I sit here a day later and think about that day, I'm still amazed that my son has so much love in his heart for people that he doesn't even know. For people that were killed 4 years prior to him being born. I know in my heart that my son is going to do great things when he is older, and I can't wait to see how he turns out. 9/11/01 was not something that I expected to try and explain to my son at such an early age, but he is so intuitive and eager to learn and is an asker of questions. He got that from his dad. He loves to know about things and really retains the information and soaks it all up.

I hope that when he is older, he will look back at this blog post and realize that it doesn't matter how small or young you are, that people can be affected by things big and small at all times.

I love you Rilyn James. You are my world and I love you more than life itself.

Love The Hagans-

Jeff, Carla, Rilyn & Xavier