Then & Now

I can’t fathom how it has been seven years since that horrible day. Seven? Really? So much has changed, and yet, sadly, so much is really very much the same. I think we all lost a little innocence that day. It is certainly a day that our generation will always remember; it’s our Pearl Harbor; our JFK; our every horrible thing that gets remembered. We actually have quite a few – Challenger, Columbine…a list that goes on and on…

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Then: The skies above our house (just a few minutes from the airport) on that crystal clear day were eerily silent; the sound of a military jet and then a helicopter had all of us in my office on edge. The silent skies were surreal. You just can’t live this close to an international airport and not hear or see airplanes.

Now: Puffy white clouds dot the sky and the sound of our daily air traffic is as constant as ever. Business as usual, I guess.

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Then: I was working all day, every day, a mere 3 months into owning the business and trying to figure it all out. I was at work when Mike called me to tell me what was going on. My whole office crowded around the computer, trying to learn more.

Now: I work one good day a week, with additional work done at random moments at home and while slipping in the office here and there. And I’m still trying to figure it all out.

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Then: You could jump on a plane at the last minute; you could say goodbye or hello to a loved one traveling at the gate; the biggest fear associated with flying was actually regular old crashing.

Now: Add a couple hours to your departure time, pack your liquids in tiny bottles in a tiny ziploc, take your shoes off, don’t make any jokes, and pray to your God that someone evil didn’t slip past security.

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Then: My boys weren’t even a glimmer of hope in my heart 7 years ago. Like others, I wondered what kind of world I would be bringing kids into after that day.

Now: The world may suck in a hundred different ways, but I wouldn’t trade my boys for anything. The one thing I took from that day was that if we stopped living, we let those bastards win. No thanks.

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Then: We were waiting for construction to begin on our new house; I remember sitting on my bed watching the coverage in our tiny little condo.

Now: So much time has passed that the whole place needs a paint job and some refreshing.

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We were in NYC in the Spring, and we walked down to Ground Zero.  I couldn’t believe how simultaneously it seemed like so much and so little had been done at the site.  The clean up took so long, but the rebuilding seems to be going at a snail pace.  I know there are conflicts about what should be done there; memorials and leaving it alone for some, rebuilding a bigger, better tower for others.  Not having lost anyone that day, I say build em bigger and better. Screw the terrorists.  But I see the other side, too.  Most people can probably still see the towers in their minds eye, even today.  I just hope one day we can see them as they were, not burning and falling down in a mess of rubble.

To anyone out there who was directly affected by the events 7 years ago today; anyone who lost someone, I’m sorry.  I hope you are able to find peace in the fact that so many of us will never forget.