Nearly Nine Years

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Every year I pass the field of American flags that marks the lives lost on September 11, 2001 and I feel a little sick in the remembrance of that day.

Today I snapped a photo of the flags as my heart sunk to its usual, thinking of 9/11 depths, and it occurred to me that my life has changed so much since that lousy morning.

There was just so much I didn't know about anything, and yet I walked around pretty cocksure that I understood how life was going to play out.

Reading a lot these days as I research materials for the story I want to finish called Everything I Know.

The real challenge of writing such a title is that I don't really know a hell of a lot when it all comes down to it.

What have you learned about foreign relations since that day 9 years ago? Going in, I had little idea of who Bin Laden was or even what a Taliban was. I was a voting American and I was in the blind for all that time.

What do you know about world relations now?

Korea? Iran? Afghanistan? Iraq?

Can the calm of a beautiful day once more be upset by the turmoil and chaos of a country that hates us?

Has the threat passed?

Will we even know what hit us?

Who the hell knows? Not me.

I just know how those flags lined up make me feel.

One flag for each life lost.

Conservatively 100 people affected by the loss of each person.

Never forget. You saw those signs all over the year following the attack. You don't see them much anymore, but I don't think it will ever be forgotten.

Nine years of living in a completely different world, right?

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