Let’s do the Time Warp again!
Welcome to the twenty-third installment of my blog hop/writing exercise called Time Warp Tuesday!
For those not familiar with Time Warp Tuesdays, which I host on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, here is the background of how and why I came up with the idea. If you are here to participate and link up, you can do so with the Linky Tools at the end of this post (or if you have any difficulty, you can share the link to your post in the comment section).
The gist of Time Warp Tuesday is to revisit and share some of our favorite blog entries from our archives and reflect on our journeys since we wrote them.
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The theme for this month’s Time Warp Tuesday is: 9/11
When I realized that this month’s Time Warp Tuesday would fall on September 11th, the topic choice seemed obvious. Look for a blog entry in your archives where you wrote about 9/11. It can be a post in which you wrote about where you were and what you were doing that day or something else related to your thoughts and feelings about this tragedy in the USA and our world’s history. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since.
Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might have needed some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:
Why did you pick this post? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing your post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote your original post?
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Time Warp Tuesday: 9/11
Eleven Years.
So much can and has happened in that time.
I wrote this last year on the tenth anniversary of 9/11/2001.
It was interesting for me then to reflect on and re-read the posts that I have written on my blog over the years related to 9/11. That was a few weeks before I introduced Time Warp Tuesdays on my blog.
Today I choose to revisit a post that I wrote four years ago, on the seventh anniversary of 9/11. In that blog entry I shared an account I wrote on 9/11/2002 in which I recounted my memories from that tragic day in our nation and our world’s history.
Please go and read the post that I am reflecting on today (and comment if you choose), if you haven’t already, and then come back here to see what I have to say about my journey since I wrote it.
***Here is where you left off before you stopped to read my old post.***
When I read my recollection of my experience on 9/11/2001 it takes me right back to that day. I have vivid memories of hearing the news and what that felt like.
Fast forward eleven Septembers…
I have been married for almost twelve years now, we have three children (an eight year old, a two year old and a baby who will always be in our hearts).
We live in a new home, one that we plan to stay in forever.
Our third grader started school last week and then the Chicago Public School teachers union decided to strike yesterday. So Sean will be spending the day at home with me and we will definitely talk about the significance of this day, as we did last year.
Our almost three year old starts preschool (at a private school) today and she couldn’t be more excited. Abby got to go there for a play date to meet her teachers and some of her classmates last Thursday and can’t wait to return three mornings a week.
It’s ironic that on Abby’s first day of school that her big brother will be home/not in school. But it will be nice to that Sean and I will get to bring Abby together to her preschool.
Bob is still working for the same law firm in the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) that he was at on 9/11/2001.
I will never forget the first time I heard the name Osama Bin Laden. It was the morning of 9/11/2001, when I was sitting in the board room of the park district where I worked at the time with my coworkers watching news coverage on a big screen of the events as they transpired. I wonder what I would have thought back then if you would have told me that it would take almost ten years for us to track down the mastermind behind the attacks that day.
It is another presidential election year (our third since 9/11) and though our national security is not as big an issue as it was in previous elections, especially in light of our economy, I still believe it is important to know what both candidates believe about our homeland and worldwide safety.
So in many ways life goes on, as it always does after we experience tragedies. Whether they are tragedies like we all lived through on 9/11 or (for those who didn’t lose loved ones on 9/11) more personal, but just as devastating, events — such as when our second child Molly died on the day she was born in 2008.
Three years ago I wrote about how we carry on after the death of loved ones. It that post I relayed a story that President Obama shared that day in the eulogy he gave at Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral. The President talked about how Senator Kennedy reached out to and supported the families of 9/11 victims in his home state of Massachusetts.
On this eleventh Anniversary of 9/11, I leave you with a quote that I first shared in that post:
“As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss. But we carry on because we have to, because our loved ones would want us to and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us.”
~ Senator Edward M. Kennedy
I continue to find those words to be healing, as I reflect on our journey with our second child/daughter Molly and as we “carry on” with our almost nine and three year old living children Sean and Abby.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who continue to grieve and carry on after losing loved ones that day, as well as everyone whose lives were touched and changed by the events that took place on 9/11.
Thank you for reading and for doing the Time Warp with me this month! I look forward to your feedback about this post, as well as reading and commenting on all of yours.
Please feel free to comment even if you didn’t write your own Time Warp Tuesday post. It is not too late to participate if you are interested, click here for the details.
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The topic for the next Time Warp Tuesday (on October 9th) is: Hope
So much of our lives we spend hoping for things to happen the way we have dreamed they would or could. This is especially true for those in the Adoption/Loss/Infertility community. Look for a blog entry in your archives where you wrote about hope. It might be a post where you wrote about something you hoped for, how hope got you through a difficult or uncertain time in your life or more generally what hope means to you. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since.
Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might need some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:
Why did you pick this post? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing your post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote your original post?
Note: If you have an idea for a future Time Warp topic, theme and/or writing prompt, please feel free to share it in the comment section or send me an email. If I choose to use your idea, I will give you credit and link to your blog that month.
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For those new to Time Warp Tuesday, here is a quick recap of how it works:
1) Browse through your old blog entries to find one that fits the topic for the given month. The topic is shared at the end of the previous month’s “Time Warp Tuesday” post here on my blog (see above for next week’s topic).
2) Write a new blog post in which you introduce, link to and then reflect on your journey since you wrote the older blog post and put it up on your blog on Tuesday. Please include this link https://bereavedandblessed.com/projects-regular-series/time-warp-tuesdays/ in your blog entry, so your readers can find their way to my post with the list of other participants, in case they would like to read more or participate themselves.
3) Share the link to your new post here on Tuesday and then visit, read and comment on the other blogs.
4) After you have done all of these things, you are welcome to grab the code for the Time Warp Tuesday button by clicking here and put it on your blog. The link will take you to a Google Doc where you can copy the code. If your browser does not allow access to your computer’s clipboard, you can use Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste, or use your browser’s Edit menu.
5) Check back here on the 2nd Tuesday of the month to find out the new topic, theme or question for the next Time Warp Tuesday (I welcome your ideas and suggestions) and then return to Step 1 of this recap to participate. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you back here next month: Tuesday, October 9th (the 2nd Tuesday of the month), when we’ll “do the time warp again!”
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Thank you again for reading, commenting and participating in my Time Warp Tuesday blog hop. Link up below and click through to visit others who are doing the Time Warp! (If you have any trouble with Linky Tools, please share the link to your blog entry in the comment section. Also, please don’t forget to comment on my post here, as I do not have a link to this (my own) post below, but I would still really appreciate your feedback. xoxo
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I saw on Twitter this morning that a friend of mine is celebrating the 11th birthday of her twin nieces. Two blessings arriving on that day of tragedy. You say that life goes on after tragedies, and it does. Your family is a good example of this, too 🙂
Love this: “there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us.”
Lori Lavender Luz recently posted..Time Warp Tuesday: 9/11
I love this: “So in many ways life goes on, as it always does after we experience tragedies. Whether they are tragedies like we all lived through on 9/11 or (for those who didn’t lose loved ones on 9/11) more personal, but just as devastating, events…” I was just reading the transcript of the speech Biden gave at the Flight 93 memorial today and choking back sobs as he described living life after a personal tragedy. We do carry on and feel happiness again even after such tragedies. The human spirit is remarkable.
missohkay recently posted..Time Warp Tuesday: Still Fractured
I love the quote you selected here, about going on because we have to. That has particularly poignant meaning for me this week, too.
A blogger I read wrote recently that time marches on but grief marches in place. I’m not sure about that, actually. I think that grief evolves, shifts, like sand at the beach … it’s always there, but it changes shape as the waves ebb and flow. And sometimes, we see the treasures hidden beneath it.
Justine recently posted..Friendship, Under the Circumstances: Fudge Brownies
This is the first year that I feel the event is more remote, less immediate. It’s starting to feel more like a piece of history. I guess that’s also why I felt some urgency to get my oral tradition down on the page.
Like you said, life goes on. Yet it’s important also to remember…thank you for hosting this TWT.
Jjiraffe recently posted..Terrible News
I love the quote you shared. It is so true.
It’s amazing how so many parts of our lives are the same as when that tragedy happened, and yet so different too.
Thanks for hosting such a thought provoking topic.
Suzy recently posted..Got Brainz?
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