9/11 Reflections

My twin towers. I look at them every day, so I will #neverforget as if that’s even a remote possibility. I was fortunate to be a part of NYC for a short time in my life, and once she gets inside your heart, she never lets go.

My 9/11 moment, was watching United 175 strike the South Tower, live on Good Morning America. My reaction was visceral and my mind exploded like the images in front of me thinking of the flight crew and passengers on board. I have tried to imagine myself in their stead a thousand times, having been a flight attendant based in New York so many years ago. On Hudson approach to LaGuardia, I never failed to sneak a peak at those towers, standing sentinel to all of NYC. It simply was, magical.

I was never more proud to be an American than in the days and months that followed that hellacious day. We were One, if only for a time. Perhaps that is the true meaning behind, never forget. All diversity was forgotten and we were all just...people, of one race, human, united in our grief, our disbelief and our pain.

Today, I feel alone in my pain, mourning the loss of so much more this year, dreading the months to come and knowing I will not forget these days, of futures unknown.

Peace

Nostalgia

I want a marker that doesn’t dry out the second I take the cap off. I want a marker so filled with chemicals to keep it from drying out, that I get a contact high and have to open the windows just to use it.

Some of y’all don’t know what a mimeograph machine is, and it shows. We teethed on cribs shellacked with lead paint and most of us turned out okay.

I’ll bet if I had a marker from 1978, not only would it still work, but it would bleed through the card stock onto the kitchen counter and leave a black permanent ink stain that no amount of elbow grease could remove. They don’t make things like they used to.

God, the older I get, the more I wax nostalgic for simpler times, simpler pleasures. It’s almost time to get me a rockin’ chair, a house with a big ol’ front porch on which to sit and recount my best days and heartfelt joys.

Maybe I’ll get a pipe to hold between my teeth. Always loved the smell of my PawPaw’s pipe...

Author Bio Traci Reason

 

Traci Reason is a writer/photographer and lifetime Mother of the Year award recipient. Former flight attendant and current ex-wife, she is an expert in failed relationships and how to pick the wrong guy. Writing about her experiences, she hopes to help women recognize the red flags that often accompany toxic unions. To help her cope with the pain of a dying marriage, Traci turned her love of journaling into a blog in 2009. Entanglement, so named for the quantum theory that we are all connected, is an amalgamation of insightful, humorous, and candid posts that readers have called, powerful and engrossing. “Writing is a sane way to discard the insane brain,” she says, “it’s good medicine.”

Traci lives in Leeds, Alabama. She is a single mom of two grown daughters and one very energetic Belgian Malinois. She has mastered the art of cheesecake baking, and when she’s not writing, she enjoys time with family, taking pictures, reading and playing competitive Scrabble.