a birthday to a tragedy all in a night.

since a couple of you have shared, i thought i would too.

ten years ago, i was sleeping downstairs in mike's big room at his parents' house in montana - we were in separate twin beds as the day before had been his birthday. he'd begged me to sneak downstairs and stay in his room instead of the guest (my) room. how could i say no?

that morning, margie (his mom) came in the room to wake us up and tell us we'd better come upstairs and that a plane had flown in to the towers. what?! sleepily, i realized that we had better get up... mike was too hazy to understand... i remember saying to him "this is history, you love history, we have to get up"... so we got up...

and watched and watched and watched... for about 3 or 4 days straight. we couldn't pull ourselves away. after making sure my dad wasn't traveling for work which he was doing quite regularly back then, i felt much relief. until the other devastating news came to me...

my babycat milo, my big beautiful amazing orange cat, who was just 7 was awfully sick and mom was doing everything in her power to save his life. mom and i had picked him out at the spca in houston my freshman year of high school. i'd always wanted an orange cat and she'd finally allowed me to pick one out. he was my guy instantly.

and now he was in the animal er... and mom was having them give my babycat blood transfusions to try and save his life. once the air ban had been lifted and flights resumed, i remember heading home to houston - both to be in the comfort of my family for a bit but also to take care of my baby. i don't remember being afraid to fly... i think i must have been a little apprehensive, but then again i was flying out of kalispell, mt ... how dangerous could that be?

sadly, the blood transfusions didn't work and mom confessed that she'd just prayed and prayed that he'd live long enough for me to get home. and with that, i had to say a very sad goodbye to my babycat, my milo. and then he was gone. and we still aren't really sure what happened to him other than his intestine or something burst and cause bial leakage or something awful...and it still brings tears to my eyes because that big guy could still be alive today...

and i realize milo was a cat... and people lost so much that awful day... but those people should and could still be alive today... and what an awful day and week in september all those years ago... i can't begin to fathom.

i shall never forget... united we stand. always...