The Feeling the Day After
Like many all over the world, but, especially in the United States, yesterday was a day of somber memories. A hellish nightmare from which there was no waking up to. The day after was a strange one, as were the days that followed. In an instant, the world, all around me, had changed. It brought with it the shock of an outright war against the United States. This was so far from the reaches of my mind just a few short hours prior.
To help those who don't know, let me explain a bit of back story. In 2001, I was pretty much going nowhere fast. I had quit two jobs, was running on borrowed money, still at home, just doing nothing and trying to get by. And then a few things went down for me. My little sister had joined the Navy, and she was gone in bootcamp. I had been seeing a guy that I thought actually liked me, and then one night I called him. He sounded so cold, to this day I can still recall it. I knew it was over. Oh well. But I was so upset, I had to get of the town. I went to the bar that night, and my best friend knew as soon as I ordered a drink that I was going to leave. She knew what I was thinking of doing before I could even tell her. And the next morning, I rolled out of bed and went to the recruiters office and said, what can the Navy do for me? He was shocked that I said that. Two weeks later I was on my way to Chicago to attend bootcamp. Oh what fun.
By this time, September that is, it had been 3 months since I had joined the Navy when the planes hit the towers. It was a moment stuck in time, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the shooting of John F. Kennedy. When people talk about things like that, they always remember where they were when they heard the news. For me, I was in my first week of Mech Core.. Started with Common Core, which was basic information for shipboard life for the Engineering Department. It goes over things like basic drawings and how to read them. You go through a simulated hull breach. That is a scary event. The next class that I took was called Mechanical Core. This goes over more details for the engineers who will work with the main propulsion. Different kinds of equipment that we all use. For this day, I learned about lube oil purifiers. Did you know that you can separate water from oil using centrifugal force. The water is heavier than the oil we had used for this. There are actually different kinds of oil that are used. For my engines, we used the 9000 series. 9250 to be exact. This means that it's a very heavy weight oil, thick and a pretty golden color. When the oil is heated to 250, that is when it starts to lose viscosity (the oil breaks down and no longer is able to lubricate the moving parts of the engine). Yes, I have tasted it. But I digress.... We were on our first morning break. It was around 8:30 am. I'm not entirely sure. Bruce comes in all weird like, and says, someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center. All do us looked at him like he was crazy. Yeah, whatever dude. Our instructor rushes into the room and turns the TV on. Bruce wasn't lying.
We sat and watched this for a while, we watched as the second plane hit. We watched as both towers fell. I wanted to vomit. At some point, our instructor turned it off. We still had work to do, and with not knowing what was about to happen, yet knowing that this was the end of life as I had known it, we had to crack on. We were marched to our lunch. There was no going to the commissary for fun food. Everyone will march and we will all go together with our instructors. The civilians had all been escorted off the base. We were on a lock down.
The days that followed are now a blur of school, shock, outrage, anger and a lot of fear. I know that after about a week or so, some of the civilians were allowed to return to work. Which meant we were able to start to resume some of our lives. Like staying out past 6 pm.
The loss of lives and the damage that this even caused the world are great. So many lost, so many affected by this. More than 7 billion I would say, because this effected the entire world. Many are still plagued with memories that are of the less than pleasant kind. Many tears shed on that day every year since.
On the 17th anniversary of this day, my Love and I talked at great length about this. Well, actually, he did the talking, I was there to listen last night. Some times he needs to get it out, some times, I am the one who has to talk about it. I got up this morning still thinking about our talk last night. I was angry at a lot of things about it. I thought about that day, I thought about the person I was at that time. I remember being a scared little girl for a few moments on that day. I thought about the people I was around in those days. How we have all changed since then. But we share one thing. We were there. No one really asked me about it yesterday, we didn't really talk about it at all. I think I'm glad that we didn't. It's been a rough one for the last few days. My heart has been filled with much sadness. The passing of my baby's friend. The passing of my husbands fellow service member. I thought a great deal about the loss in the last few weeks. So many. Too many. Far too many have taken their lives. I let my hear ache in the miles and I made a valiant effort to beat the hill... And I did! I took my anger that I was feeling and I pushed myself hard today. I wanted to beat that hill.
As I neared the house, I started to slow, I was so out of breath, but I busted my ass and I got all negative splits. Yay!! I seem to run the best when I am so mad. I would say that to do well at a race then, I should use my anger to get myself worked up so I can pound out the miles. Would be nice for sure.
Anyhow, My music is coming to a close and I am pretty happy with my run today. I am grateful for my life and the life I have lived. There are many who didn't make it to Hump Day. I am humbled by the sense of togetherness we had at one point in my life. 2001 was a shitty time for a lot, but for a few briefs months/years, we were all together on the same team and we wanted to help one another. The day after 9/11, flags were sold out of every store because every one had one flying on their homes. It wasn't about being the Right or the Left. It wasn't about being anything other than part of America. (Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like that for everyone in the country, but that is not the point here.).
I have watched a country that could be bombed one day to building each other up the next day. Brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, old loves, new loves, young love, we were united as one. One goal, one purpose. United We Stand. Too bad most seem to forget, Divided We Fall. Let's take a stand again. Let's make this a country that we can be proud of again. Let's Make America Kind.
peace, love.... ~
To help those who don't know, let me explain a bit of back story. In 2001, I was pretty much going nowhere fast. I had quit two jobs, was running on borrowed money, still at home, just doing nothing and trying to get by. And then a few things went down for me. My little sister had joined the Navy, and she was gone in bootcamp. I had been seeing a guy that I thought actually liked me, and then one night I called him. He sounded so cold, to this day I can still recall it. I knew it was over. Oh well. But I was so upset, I had to get of the town. I went to the bar that night, and my best friend knew as soon as I ordered a drink that I was going to leave. She knew what I was thinking of doing before I could even tell her. And the next morning, I rolled out of bed and went to the recruiters office and said, what can the Navy do for me? He was shocked that I said that. Two weeks later I was on my way to Chicago to attend bootcamp. Oh what fun.
By this time, September that is, it had been 3 months since I had joined the Navy when the planes hit the towers. It was a moment stuck in time, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the shooting of John F. Kennedy. When people talk about things like that, they always remember where they were when they heard the news. For me, I was in my first week of Mech Core.. Started with Common Core, which was basic information for shipboard life for the Engineering Department. It goes over things like basic drawings and how to read them. You go through a simulated hull breach. That is a scary event. The next class that I took was called Mechanical Core. This goes over more details for the engineers who will work with the main propulsion. Different kinds of equipment that we all use. For this day, I learned about lube oil purifiers. Did you know that you can separate water from oil using centrifugal force. The water is heavier than the oil we had used for this. There are actually different kinds of oil that are used. For my engines, we used the 9000 series. 9250 to be exact. This means that it's a very heavy weight oil, thick and a pretty golden color. When the oil is heated to 250, that is when it starts to lose viscosity (the oil breaks down and no longer is able to lubricate the moving parts of the engine). Yes, I have tasted it. But I digress.... We were on our first morning break. It was around 8:30 am. I'm not entirely sure. Bruce comes in all weird like, and says, someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center. All do us looked at him like he was crazy. Yeah, whatever dude. Our instructor rushes into the room and turns the TV on. Bruce wasn't lying.
We sat and watched this for a while, we watched as the second plane hit. We watched as both towers fell. I wanted to vomit. At some point, our instructor turned it off. We still had work to do, and with not knowing what was about to happen, yet knowing that this was the end of life as I had known it, we had to crack on. We were marched to our lunch. There was no going to the commissary for fun food. Everyone will march and we will all go together with our instructors. The civilians had all been escorted off the base. We were on a lock down.
The days that followed are now a blur of school, shock, outrage, anger and a lot of fear. I know that after about a week or so, some of the civilians were allowed to return to work. Which meant we were able to start to resume some of our lives. Like staying out past 6 pm.
The loss of lives and the damage that this even caused the world are great. So many lost, so many affected by this. More than 7 billion I would say, because this effected the entire world. Many are still plagued with memories that are of the less than pleasant kind. Many tears shed on that day every year since.
On the 17th anniversary of this day, my Love and I talked at great length about this. Well, actually, he did the talking, I was there to listen last night. Some times he needs to get it out, some times, I am the one who has to talk about it. I got up this morning still thinking about our talk last night. I was angry at a lot of things about it. I thought about that day, I thought about the person I was at that time. I remember being a scared little girl for a few moments on that day. I thought about the people I was around in those days. How we have all changed since then. But we share one thing. We were there. No one really asked me about it yesterday, we didn't really talk about it at all. I think I'm glad that we didn't. It's been a rough one for the last few days. My heart has been filled with much sadness. The passing of my baby's friend. The passing of my husbands fellow service member. I thought a great deal about the loss in the last few weeks. So many. Too many. Far too many have taken their lives. I let my hear ache in the miles and I made a valiant effort to beat the hill... And I did! I took my anger that I was feeling and I pushed myself hard today. I wanted to beat that hill.
As I neared the house, I started to slow, I was so out of breath, but I busted my ass and I got all negative splits. Yay!! I seem to run the best when I am so mad. I would say that to do well at a race then, I should use my anger to get myself worked up so I can pound out the miles. Would be nice for sure.
Anyhow, My music is coming to a close and I am pretty happy with my run today. I am grateful for my life and the life I have lived. There are many who didn't make it to Hump Day. I am humbled by the sense of togetherness we had at one point in my life. 2001 was a shitty time for a lot, but for a few briefs months/years, we were all together on the same team and we wanted to help one another. The day after 9/11, flags were sold out of every store because every one had one flying on their homes. It wasn't about being the Right or the Left. It wasn't about being anything other than part of America. (Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like that for everyone in the country, but that is not the point here.).
I have watched a country that could be bombed one day to building each other up the next day. Brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, old loves, new loves, young love, we were united as one. One goal, one purpose. United We Stand. Too bad most seem to forget, Divided We Fall. Let's take a stand again. Let's make this a country that we can be proud of again. Let's Make America Kind.
peace, love.... ~
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