We Are Family... (Day 61)

Lots of drama out in blogland today.  But you know what? In the end, it's all going to be OK.  Because all the folks involved are really and truly good and caring people. Different styles, different frames of reference, different baggage, and different approaches. But at the heart of the matter are people who want to succeed and be healthy, and they want that for the rest of us, too. At the end of the day, I feel pretty darn glad to be a part of this online family. ;-)

Today was totally a day of rest, and I had no idea how much I needed that. We went to the 9:00 service at the Lockport Campus of our church this morning because our son-in-law, Jim, was scheduled to sing.  He sang "Simple Man" originally by Lynyrd Skynyrd and oh my goodness!!  He did an unbelievable job!! Just awesome!

After church, we came home and chilled for the rest of the day. The one thing that we accomplished was to matte and frame a large picture of our son, Justin's, platoon from when he was in the Marine Corp...Bill's been meaning to hang this picture for some time.

Justin was barely out of boot camp when the planes hit the towers, the pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania on 9/11.  At the time, I was working in downtown Chicago, just two blocks from the Sears Tower. I remember the whole office gathered in front of the television, and I recall the surreal disbelief I felt when I saw those buildings collapse and change our lives forever. We all left the downtown area shortly after that because we knew that the Sears Tower was a potential target, and the downtown area quickly became a ghost town.

My first thought after heartfelt sorrow for all those immediately affected was to fearfully wonder what this was going to mean for Justin. His specialty in the Corp was in nuclear, biological, and chemical defense, and I knew the implications of that. When the war in Iraq started in February of 2002, he had been deployed to Kuwait, though we didn't know that at the time.  He wasn't able to tell us where he was going, and we didn't find out for several months. I remember having the television on 24/7 for months, watching everything I could find about what was going on over there.

I spent much of this weekend remembering it all.  I never want to forget what it was like to feel so incredibly vulnerable, and at the same time, so united as a country full of people who came together with full knowledge of what is truly important.  We've drifted quite a bit from the unity of that day...I hope it won't take another tragedy before we can get back there again.

This has been a very good week so hopefully that will be reflected in tomorrow's weigh-in.  For the upcoming week, whatever comes my way, it's my desire to meet it head on and not let anything shake my resolve.

Let's all remember what's important this week, and let's all go out there and make it a good one!

God bless...