I promise this will be my last serious post for awhile, but I need to share my thoughts today. Waking up, it seemed like another Friday morning. I was running my habitual 10 minutes late. I ate my raisin bran per usual. I got in my car, talked to Mom and Lizzie and then turned on the radio. Alan Jackson's "Where were you when the world stopped turning"was on and I got chills...I remembered that it was September 11th. I thought of how I felt 8 years ago at the moment-- how America had felt. Lost, scared, and sad. I was a senior in high school and its one of the days from those 4 years that I remember most vividly. I remember clinging close to my family and friends and thanking God for what I had, and for the opportunity to live in such a fine place. I remember making a CD with "American Hits" to jam too while at Anahuac Gator Fest (You know I LOVE me some good American hits). Ironically, tomorrow I will be heading back to Gatorfest with the same friends for the first time since 2001. (Side note: my friend Jennifer threw the CD out of the window. Seems as though she wasn't cool enough for Lee Greenwood....or America....)

I remember the September 11ths that followed. I remember being in college the first year after and watching all of the coverage in the living room of the Tridelt House (of course I wasn't in class as I was supposed to be...). I remember standing in the Courtyard of the Ronald Reagan building in Washington D.C. on the 5 year anniversary to remember the brave souls America had lost. I remember the following year standing on my balcony in Arlington, VA looking at the Pentagon thinking of the horrible sight I would have seen had I been standing there 6 years earlier. I remember last year, a hurricane blowing into Houston and taking my bridal portraits, thinking about the day that forever changed my country.

Today, I think about those lost. I think about the children whose mothers and fathers never came home. I think about the ultimate sacrifice those people made for the land they loved. I think of a baby who was born today and is now 8 years old. Unbelievable how time passes. Today I will thank God for my family, friends, and country, and those who fight to protect it. God bless America.

(And I promise next week I will focus on things that aren't so sad...stay tuned for my opinion on the best thing in the world...aka NETFLIX)