This is our first 9/11 living on the east coast, and the difference in the news coverage of the anniversary is remarkable. Here, one has a deeper sense of the immediacy of the horror and the wounds that are still unhealed.
This morning, my husband is on an early flight out of JFK into Los Angeles. One can't help thinking of all the other women who kissed their husbands good-bye before they took the same flight eleven years ago, and got their little ones off to school before hearing the news that changed their lives forever.
We remember their grief, and their courage and the many acts of selfless bravery that occurred on 9/11/01. We remember the heroism of the passengers on Flight 93. We remember every American patriot who has given his or her life in the cause of keeping us safe and free.
And we recall the messages of those trapped in planes and buildings. Most often, their last words were "I love you" -- and we know that love outlives death and that in the end, good will triumph over evil. Even amid the grief and suffering visited on this country eleven years ago today, we are blessed to know how the story will ultimately end.