Do You Remember?

It slipped my mind this morning that it was September 11th. I should have known, but the Boy Scouts didn't put up a flag this year like they did last year. So, I just went about my morning routine until I was driving down State street in Orem and I spotted a flag at half mast. Then I remembered. I was getting the girls ready for school, fixing breakfast, brushing hair, and making lunches. Steve was out of town. He traveled frequently back then and this week he was in Memphis, Tennessee. The phone rang. It was Steve. "Hey!" I said, "How are you?" "Are you watching TV?" "No, why? What's wrong" Something was wrong, I could tell by the tone of his voice. "Elizabeth, turn on the TV." "Why?" I was starting to panic. Steve's voice choked up, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center." He had been watching the news with the other hotel guests as he ate his breakfast. He had watched the second plane crash on live TV. I remember staring at the TV in disbelief trying to get a handle on what had just happened. Why had this happened? What did this mean? I don't know what Steve and I talked about next. But I knew I was scared and I felt vulnerable. Steve was gone. I wanted him home. I drove the girls to school that day. They were late. It was quiet outside, too quiet. Where were the cars? Where were the kids walking to school? Where was everyone? The rest of the day I watched the news incessantly like everyone else, until Steve told me to turn it off. It was getting to me. Seven year old Abbey came home from school, she knew something was wrong. She could hear the news on the TV. She looked up at me and started to cry, "Mom, why would someone do that?" She caught me off guard. How do I explain what a terrorist was? How do I explain hate? How do I explain any of this without scaring her any further? Then it what I believe was divine inspiration, our family scripture study came to my mind. The Gadianton Robbers. For a few brief moments, Abigail and I talked about the robbers, about how they had "secret combinations" and how some people just want to do things that are wrong and evil. The same was true with terrorists. I went on to explain that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, that even when bad things happen, horrible things, we can find peace and reassurance that He does have a plan for us, an eternal plan. And we can be happy. She seemed to understand. She seemed to feel better and so did I. And like the rest of the country, life went on. We moved forward, but we could never forget.