Serious post... (I know I don't do it often)

As I was driving home from the gym today I noticed a flag was at halfmast. For a second I thought, "I wonder who died". Then I remembered again that today was the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.

In September 2001 I was in China teaching English. We only heard about the attacks a day after it happened. We had a hard time getting any information because our internet was so slow (we only saw choppy pics in the newspaper). I honestly never saw the video of the planes hitting the towers until I saw a clip of it in the Spy Museum in 2005. I cried. I can't even imagine what it was like for people seeing it as it happened.
When we came home from China in December I have to say I was confused by the military men with machine guns in the airport (didn't I leave that back in China?). Then blown away all the bumper stickers, flags, & patriotism everywhere I turned.Part of me feels sad. I feel like being in China I really missed some of the experience many Americans had- the joining together part: where people cried together & felt patriotic. I kind of caught the tailend: the war, confused facts, & political discourse. I am grateful that today people can put aside their political beliefs or their feeling about the war & can just remember those people who died & the heros that were made that day.