September 11,2019

Eighteen years ago I was helping the kids get ready for school and listening to NPR. We didn’t have tv and so our news came from the radio. I heard something about a plane crash. It sounded so unbelievable that I figured it was some type of radio show. But then current things were mentioned. Once the kids were at school I ran to Trent’s office to see the news. I was shocked and confused. I remember thinking about the time and the number of people at work in their offices when their lives were tragically and abruptly ended. I cried. Trent and I gathered up the scout flags and lined the streets in our ward. It was something beautiful on such an ugly day. Today, as we do every year, we gathered as a school at the base of the flag pole to say the pledge and have a moment of silence. My students have no personal knowledge of that day. Their understanding comes from history retold - like I learn of the Civil War, the moon landing, the Mayflower. What they know of that day is the patriots who helped and sacrificed. That is a wonderful thing to know. Good people doing what was right on a day that was all wrong. There is joy in knowing of the patriots.