Everyone that wasn’t living under a rock can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001. It was a day of inexplicable tragedy in our country, and many have referred to it as the “day America lost its innocence.”

I was home on September 11, 2001. Caitlyn had just started kindergarten a couple weeks prior, and I was still doing in-home daycare. I was home with Courtney who was almost a year old. I listened to the Today Show in the mornings – not really watching, but just having it on as background noise. I heard bits and pieces of something that morning referring to an errant pilot that accidentally crashed into the World Trade Center.

I decided to turn the TV up and sit down to listen and watch the events unfold. Minutes went by before a second plane hit, and the entire country — the entire world– came to the realization that we had been attacked. I remember watching in horror as smoke billowed out of the buildings’ windows. I remember hearing accounts of other plane crashes, both at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. We soon were told that one of the planes was targeting the White House.

To this day, I can recall images of people jumping from windows and plunging to their death, because the alternative seemed that grim. I can still recall many survivors telling stories of hearing people screaming, trapped inside the building. Many made frantic calls to loved ones, attempting that last ditch effort at saying goodbye.

I was glued to the television. It was like a bad car accident. You don’t want to watch but somehow you feel compelled to. Since then, I have read books written by people that survived the attacks, simply because they had other plans that day. Maybe it was taking a son or daughter to their first day of school, or maybe they just had a dentist appointment that morning.

Even thought it has been ten years, the memories of that day are still so vivid in my mind. I can only imagine how it must be for those that were THERE and survived. I have a hard time reading books or watching movies on the topic, because I get this terrible knot deep in the pit of my stomach. I bought the Flight 93 movie a couple years ago, and it still sits on a shelf in our family room, wrapped in the original plastic. I can’t bring myself to watch it, because I know how it will end.

We should all take a few minutes today to remember those that lost our lives, those that lost a loved one, and those that have contributed countless hours to helping in every way they knew how.

God Bless them All.

Oh Mother Nature, you teased me yesterday… I opened all the windows in my house yesterday to a beautiful sunny Sunday. Our house warmed up with a 80-degree breeze coming through the windows. I cleaned, I dusted, I relished the warm spring weather. I thought of the Mother Eagle guarding her eaglets that I’ve been addicted to this past week, and how they must be so toasty warm. Two of them have hatched now, and it was truly a sign that spring is here to stay.

I ventured out to the grocery store around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, and noticed the dashboard thermometer told me it was 85 degrees outside. Wonderful! I got my groceries, and headed home. As I drove home along the country highway, I noticed that on my 7-mile drive, the temperature had already dropped to 79 degrees.

An hour and a half later, I went out onto the patio to start the grill for dinner, and the temperature had dropped another 15 degrees, at least. The wind had picked up, and I knew then that our warm spring day was officially over.

Now here we are on Monday, Mother Nature. You give us a small taste of WONDERFUL yesterday, then bring us back to reality today. Cruel as you can be at times, all I can say is at least you didn’t bring us any SNOW: