11 Years...and Five Days...

I know I’m the side of Miss Lady that’s supposed to speak her mind without even thinking about a Pause button. But for the past 11 years now, there’s always ONE DAY that puts the brakes on a wild tongue. And no matter what, when THAT day comes around, all thoughts turn to “Where were you?” and “Who did you lose?” and “What if I’d been earlier/later, what would have happened?” Biggest libido-killer EVER…well, that is if you even wanted to DO it on THAT day.

I don’t even call it 9-11 or September 11, or anything like that. To this day, I CAN’T. The mere mention of those numbers put me back on the morning train watching heavy smoke come from two smokestacks that turned out to be the Trade Center Towers. They put me in the office of one of my supervisors, looking at the TV screen, a live shot of the Towers in clear view. Except this shot has ONE tower and a huge cloud of smoke and broadcasts the numbness of realization, of our then-fiancee working blocks away, wails from our co-worker not being able to reach her mother, and of walking across the 59^th Street Bridge because for the first time since the 70’s Transit Strike, all trains had been shut down. And worst of all, those numbers bring back what Miss Lady’s mother, safe at home, would tell me, well, US, about a Sister in our then-church with the same name who’d just started working in the last Tower to fall and the first one hit…just STARTED  a new job a few weeks before, but now there’s no word from her, and never would be again.  So I stick to the words. It’s not like I’m going to say “THAT day in September” and no one’s going to have a clue what I’m talking about.

Anyway, around this time of year, Miss Lady consumes herself with thoughts of how far she still needs to go in terms of writing, saving money, keeping a job, blah, blah, blah. So it falls to ME to plant seeds that may or may not be harvested as future opportunities for published greatness. Basically, SHE does the remembering, I do the progressive plotting! So this year, we divided THAT day into two parts: the early part, she found a website link that broadcasted the Reading of the Names, she listened for the young Sister’s name (who they FINALLY pronounced correctly this year!) and paid her respects in that way. The later part of the day, I got to take over! Not only did I get a redraft of her bio going and freshen up her YouTube page, I’ve been extending some Twitter-wisdom and getting great feedback in that department! I even went to the mattresses and came up with some vintage erotica in ready-to-submit formation! Miss Lady may blush about it, but that little story was HOT, and I would LOVE to see who else feels us on that one!

Now I’m not saying either of us disrespected THAT day in ANY way. Believe me, it was quite the contrary. The day was a good balance between never forgetting and remembering that we’re still here to write and make things right in the world, or just help those we hold dear to us in the world that’s all our own. Ugh…getting a little too girly on that last line, so I’m just going to wrap up by saying this…11 Years and we’re STILL here; Never Forget THAT!