Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of the worst terrorist attack this country has ever experienced.  It's hard to know what to say about it.  The way I experienced that day was not the way many other unfortunate people experienced that day.  The way my 20 year old self felt the safety of my world crumbling beneath my feet was not the way the victims of the attack felt their world crumbling beneath their feet.   I don't feel I can adequately relate to the loss felt by the families of the victims and by the survivors themselves.  All I can do I look inside my heart and try to imagine what life has been like for those people the last 10 years.  It's painful to think of the mothers and fathers who lost their children, the children who lost their parents.  Brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, husbands and wives all had to find a way to go on with their lives.  Too many people died too soon.  They didn't get to say goodbye, tell their families they loved them, or tell a friend they were sorry.  They didn't find their true love just yet, get the chance to have a baby, adopt a baby, run a marathon or even see another beautiful sunset.  Those things were stolen from them.  And while I know that the human spirit is resilient, and that through this loss the survivors and the victims families have found some peace and restored the beauty in their lives...I ache for all their missed opportunities and stolen moments.  Even as I write this, there are people still crying, praying, asking why and grieving.  It breaks my heart.   

My hope is that we did learn something in the midst of that tragedy.  Ten years later, I hope our hearts have opened a little wider for our fellow Americans, that our gratitude for service members has grown deeper,  and that we appreciate our loved ones more.   The human spirit is resilient.  Beauty can be found again.  Life does go on.  And the lives that were lost will not be forgotten.  They are taken along with every other life they touched.  They live on and are reborn again and again through generations to come. 

Thank you to all the fallen heroes who died September 11, 2001.  Thank you to those that have died since.  Thank you to those who have fought or are still fighting the war on terror.