Do you remember?

This date will come every year, and my emotions up until now, have remained the same. The story doesn't change, and like so many others around the world, especially in the family of firefighters and rescue personnel, I will pause and reflect on the events of that day.... On this day....every year.

Ground Zero World Trade Center New York City September 11, 2001

I would never have imagined that I would become part of the world of firefighters and have a new way of viewing and reflecting on the events of that day, which, truly, seem like so long ago.

I seemed to have watched from afar, but now, becoming "connected" has opened my eyes like never before at the risks that these individuals make every day and the heroic acts that they perform.

I am very HUMBLED each time that I look at these 2 jars and reflect upon the events that happened on September 11, 2001. I worked for a major scrapbook magazine at the time and can recall vividly every detail of the breaking news and the emotions that I and my family felt during the next days and upcoming weeks and months. My boss was scheduled for a business trip to NYC and even weeks after the event and in the midst of confusion and chaos collected these 2 jars. My thanks to Michael Randall. Not every event in our lives will be a positive one. The beauty of saving things like dirt, or creating a scrapbook page, or writing a song, or any other creative outlet one expresses, is that it gives us a chance to cope and accept negative events and use them as constant reminders to live for today. I have an incredible appreciation for life. I open these jars and still smell the sulphur from burning buildings. I feel pain and sorrow for those that lost loved ones. I feel gratitude that the Lord spared my family from such pain.

THANK YOU. May we all continue to heal and look to the future. May we never have to have an event such as this to bring us all closer together and remember what is important in life.