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Thanks for your memories, Hair. I had been registered on FR since just before the 2000 elections, but I don't think I'd logged on yet that morning of 9/11. We had been up since about 8:30 doing homeschool work when my Prayer Line buddy called to share prayer requests from during the week to put in our Parish bulletin. She mentioned praying for the people in the 'plane accident' at the WTC. My first thought was "that was a stupid pilot", then I went down to the basement to check out the TV. I called the kids to come down to see because it was already beginning to look like a deliberate attack. We were watching as the second plane slowly approached the other tower. We were stunned to see it live on TV, and we couldn't do anything else that morning. We felt so helpless and so angry. I was trying not to break down in tears in front of the kids, but my insides were roiling!

Just before noon, Sir Suzi Q came down and mentioned that the Red Cross was looking for donors. We packed the kids books and took them with us. We arrived just before a human wave! I'm glad we got there when we did; we only had to wait and hour and a half. When we left the line was half a block long! We felt like we had at least done something. We didn't know there would be little need for all that extra blood.

I've been taping the TV coverage this morning. I can't wait to hear our Pres. speak to the country this evening and more importantly to the UN tomorrow. Our town is having an ovservance this evening which we'll attend, and it will include an Ecumenical Prayer Service. We had an impromptu gathering last year, a few days after 9/11 to which about 1000 people came. It was never advertised in the paper or on TV, folks just sent e-mail all around, and schools sent home notices with the kids. It filled a need we all felt to be with our countrymen and some who are not citizens, but who all felt violated and angry and wanted some sort of validation of those feelings by being with others who felt the same. The anger may not be as white hot as it was, but it is still there.

I'm thankful for FR; I have many friends on different continuing threads. I hope to get to meet some of y'all at Entmoot South (sorry Hair, I ain't going any farther North in the winter)and I have plans to meet some of the Bush Babes from the Dose in DC next Summer. Y'all have been a lot of fun this year, a challenging one for our nation to say the least, but humor is sometimes the best way to handle tough times.