September 11, 2011

Remember.

I still remember sitting down and writing this blog entry on Sept. 12, 2001. On Sept. 11 I couldn’t bear to sit down and write a blog entry; Earl and I had been glued to the television set watching the news and I wasn’t able to put my thoughts into words that would be coherent for anyone to read. The next day I was able to muster that brief blog entry.

I have said before that I had a weird sense of ‘something’ as I rode the elevator up to my office on the 16th floor. The phone rang as I got off the elevator, Earl called and said a small plane had run into the World Trade Center. I had a whole bunch of spidey-sense going; I didn’t know why but the best I can describe it is borrowing from Star Wars, there was a disturbance in the force.

As I entered the doors of the radio station I worked at, the satellite feed was switching over to an ABC News special bulletin. We soon quickly put together a makeshift antenna and hooked it up in the production room of the adjoining advertising business so we could watch the news and get a handle on what was happening. The rest is history. History that I hope will never be repeated.

Yesterday at the SU game was Patriotic Day. As we honored those that have served our country and the lives that were lost on 9/11 (and those living with that loss today), my eyes teared up quite a few times. I mourn the loss of life and I’m sad for the loss of the pre-9/11 USA. Sometimes it’s so weird to step back and see where our country has gone since this tragedy. An event that united us in it’s aftermath has ultimately turned out country into a land much more markedly divided than it was 10 years ago.

As I asked last year, please burn a candle of peace today. While we will always remember the events of 9/11/01, let’s continue to learn and find ways to come back together as a united people.

Orange.

Back in February I bought Earl season tickets for SU Football as his birthday present. We have been excited about the arrival of football season and since we always love a chance to go to the Dome, we acquainted ourselves with our season ticket seats yesterday. We are on the 20 yard line in row K. There were no nose bleeds as we’re on in section 115. The Orange played Rhode Island. We won, though it probably wasn’t as easy a win as it should have been.

I have always loved going to the Carrier Dome and I still feel the same excitement that I did when I first went to it back in the early 1980s. It was good to get back into football season and Earl seemed very happy with his birthday present. Now we’ll probably get basketball season tickets too.