Sept. 11
It’s a day of remembrance. Every chapel message or church sermon given on this day begins with something like, “Let us remember what happened on Sept. 11…”
Trouble with memory is that it’s a very subjective sort of thing. The above sentence, when I hear it, means an entirely different thing than the speaker most likely intends. I have an entire vault of thoughts devoted to that date, beginning in 1983…
My parents were stationed in Germany and my mom called across the ocean to her mother in Alabama to tell her that her first grandchild has been born. Because I was born in the morning, it was Sept. 11 in Germany, but still the night of Sept. 10 in the States. My grandmother, not willing to wait, called friends and family that night, telling them that she had a granddaughter who was born “tomorrow.” Thousands of miles away, I spent the first hours of my life in a hospital built by Hitler.
Fast forward about 7 years… There are four in the family, and we live in Fairfax, VA. I had a typical little girl’s birthday party with friends from school (yes, these were my public school days), church, and the neighborhood. We ate cake that Mom had made and decorated and we played “Pin the Tail on the Unicorn.”
I have particularly fond memories of 1994. That year we went camping on Chincoteague. My brother and I rode around on our bikes, taking pictures of the wild horses. When it got too stuffy and mosquito-y in the little camper by night, we all got out to go for a nighttime stroll. I still remember the sky from that night. There were no lights or clouds for miles, and the moon was an orange sliver. Stars coated the sky and the Milky Way looked like a river of diamonds. I finally saw how counting the stars could be compared to counting the sand on the beach.
I remember one of my first birthdays in Alabama – one of the first I was able to share with extended family. I took more control of the planning than in the past and decked out the dining room in bright teal and purple. In retrospect, this was perhaps a garish combination, but I still like it :).
And then there was the one ‘round about ’99… My two best friends came over for a dinner/movies/sleepover party (which became a tradition among the three of us). Daniel’s great contribution was to be homemade vanilla ice cream… However, we all felt it tasted a bit funny and he suddenly realized he had transposed the sugar and salt. :)
My most recent memory is of 2004 – last year. I remember loading the seven of us into Ben’s faithful van and driving to Maryland… where we spent the day at the Ren Fair, played Settlers of Catan at Jonathan’s aunt and uncle’s, and went to Chevy’s Mexican restaurant for dinner… where they sang at Sarah and me and gave us dessert and big sombreros, as I contemplated some well-overdue sleep and margaritas…
I can remember Sept. 11th, alright. I can remember a lot of Sept. 11ths. After all, I’ve been marking the date all my life.
Trouble with memory is that it’s a very subjective sort of thing. The above sentence, when I hear it, means an entirely different thing than the speaker most likely intends. I have an entire vault of thoughts devoted to that date, beginning in 1983…
My parents were stationed in Germany and my mom called across the ocean to her mother in Alabama to tell her that her first grandchild has been born. Because I was born in the morning, it was Sept. 11 in Germany, but still the night of Sept. 10 in the States. My grandmother, not willing to wait, called friends and family that night, telling them that she had a granddaughter who was born “tomorrow.” Thousands of miles away, I spent the first hours of my life in a hospital built by Hitler.
Fast forward about 7 years… There are four in the family, and we live in Fairfax, VA. I had a typical little girl’s birthday party with friends from school (yes, these were my public school days), church, and the neighborhood. We ate cake that Mom had made and decorated and we played “Pin the Tail on the Unicorn.”
I have particularly fond memories of 1994. That year we went camping on Chincoteague. My brother and I rode around on our bikes, taking pictures of the wild horses. When it got too stuffy and mosquito-y in the little camper by night, we all got out to go for a nighttime stroll. I still remember the sky from that night. There were no lights or clouds for miles, and the moon was an orange sliver. Stars coated the sky and the Milky Way looked like a river of diamonds. I finally saw how counting the stars could be compared to counting the sand on the beach.
I remember one of my first birthdays in Alabama – one of the first I was able to share with extended family. I took more control of the planning than in the past and decked out the dining room in bright teal and purple. In retrospect, this was perhaps a garish combination, but I still like it :).
And then there was the one ‘round about ’99… My two best friends came over for a dinner/movies/sleepover party (which became a tradition among the three of us). Daniel’s great contribution was to be homemade vanilla ice cream… However, we all felt it tasted a bit funny and he suddenly realized he had transposed the sugar and salt. :)
My most recent memory is of 2004 – last year. I remember loading the seven of us into Ben’s faithful van and driving to Maryland… where we spent the day at the Ren Fair, played Settlers of Catan at Jonathan’s aunt and uncle’s, and went to Chevy’s Mexican restaurant for dinner… where they sang at Sarah and me and gave us dessert and big sombreros, as I contemplated some well-overdue sleep and margaritas…
I can remember Sept. 11th, alright. I can remember a lot of Sept. 11ths. After all, I’ve been marking the date all my life.
posted by Gabi @ 1:27 PM
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