Eleven years ago I was in Monmouth Medical Center in NJ looking out of my mother’s hospital room window at the sparkling ocean to the east and the billows of smoke to the north. There was a boat not far from the shore line and I remember wondering if the driver realized that the world we knew a mere thirty minutes ago would never,ever return.
My mother was just given her own death sentence. The day before she had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in her colon and was told she had 6 to 18 months to live. We were devastated as we watched the events of 9-11 unfold from her small hospital room television. As the towers imploded she said, “What I am going through is nothing compared to what is going on across the river.” The television quickly turned to the Pentagon and we watched the flames and horror in Washington D.C. Then, like so many others, we heard about the battle in the air over Shanksville, PA.
The hospital was cleared of all non-critical patients to make room for the victims of the terror attack. We were told that they would be arriving by ferry and then by ambulance. We bundled up my Mom and drove her home, all the while listening for the ambulances that would never arrive.
May God bless all the courageous souls that were lost that day and may God continue to bless our great country. May the Freedom Tower rise up to display to the world the continued strength, tenacity and resilience of the American people.
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