September 11, 2013

My Country Tis of Thee…September 11

My Country Tis of Thee

September 11

1

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
3
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
4
Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.

~My Country Tis Of Thee
Samuel Francis Smith

I had every intention of adding party images and teasing book giveaways…but, the reality of today hit me. Yes, we still celebrate today, yes, there are tragedies everyday, but today is a day that we all look back on and know with every fiber of our being where we were and what we were doing at 8:46 am EST, September 11, 2001.

I had just finished feeding my one year old son, my Aunt was staying in our guest apartment. She came to be with my Grandfather, he was in the hospital and not doing well. I had Good Morning America on and I caught a glimpse of the first plane hit the tower…I remember thinking, who would produce a movie that depicts that? That is just horrible. Then I saw the second plane, and for a brief moment, prayed someone had produced such a movie…as the reality began to sink in, my Aunt came to our main house and sat with me in disbelief, horror, shock, and sadness. I mean, this is AMERICA, no one does that to US. Were we arrogant to believe this? Maybe. But, I believe that way of thinking brought us together as a nation. We all mourned for a city we all claimed. I have never even been to NYC, but, Rudy was my mayor, NYC was my city. My heart broke each time I saw news footage. I cried for children that lost their parents, for parents that lost their children. As a mom, there is nothing more terrifying than the thought of loosing your child.

As a Nation, we all finally looked at Police, Firefighters, and US service men and women with the respect they deserve. Of course we all knew their jobs were low paying, high risk, hard jobs, but maybe we took them for granted. My son became infatuated with firemen and fire trucks.

As a nation we knew that United We Stand, and Divided We Fall. We chose to Stand United…strong, caring, unwavering, believing. We are Americans.

So, today, I will not post party pictures. I will hug my boys a little tighter, thank the men and women that risk their lives, their families that sacrifice so that we may have safety, I will teach my little men about that day in American history that changed us all, I will pray a little longer. I will remember…because, if we forget, we are doomed to repeat.