I read a blog post the other day written by a young woman who was 8 when 9/11 happened. Her dad was in the Army, the peaceful Army. That day life changed for her family. Her dad deployed twice before he retired from the military.
This post hit home for me. It made me think about my children. What has 9/11 meant for us as family?
It's meant a lot more sacrifice as a military family.
It's meant that daddy is gone for months at a time. We are blessed. Ben is only on his third deployment. He's never been gone for a full year. The longest has been 8 months. There are some families who are on their 4th or 5th deployments. That wears on a family. The families sacrifice a lot.
It's meant that my children see armed guards patrolling the parking lots of the PX and aren't unnerved by it.
It's meant that my children's Uncle Dave is no longer around.
We pray for the victims of 9/11. It was a very sad day and it still continues to be. Six years ago, I hesitated when scheduling a baptism on this day. But, I thought what a fitting thing to do on a day that held so much sadness. Pumpkin was baptized on this day.
So, we will never forget. Neither the sad not the happy. And, we pray. We pray every single week for peace at our parish. We pray every day for the soldiers deployed. And, we hope.
Comments