I stepped out of Mr. Wheeler’s room, already late for my next class by default because it was on the other end of our small campus in the band room. I took the back door out of the 7th and 8th grade wing (where my class was held…if you can call 2 classrooms and a hall with 40 lockers a “wing”) across the grass, still wet with morning dew, up the ramp and into the main building. I rushed up the hall to my locker weaving my way through the seniors that congregated at their end of the hall. Ahead of me I saw the face of my journalism teacher from the year before. He signaled me to step aside in the hall. Annoyed that I would be made even more late to class, I did it begrudgingly.

He did not mince words.

“An attack, the likes of which we have never seen, has just occurred in New York City. They have flown a plane into the World Trade Center. This will mean war. Go to your class and if your teacher doesn’t already know, tell him.”

Shocked and barely understanding, I moved on down the hall to my locker. I locked eyes with my Spanish teacher and it was clear in her face that she already knew. I crammed my heavy World History text book onto the top shelf in my full length purple locker. 262. The number is etched in my mind. I couldn’t know yet just how many big moments would happen in this very place, but I paused. Somehow, deep inside, I knew that things would never be the same.

I was 16. I had only had my driver’s license for 20 days. I was 2 months and 3 days from turning 17. All I could think was, Hasn’t this happened before? Was it the same time? The same day of the week? I was only 6 years and a few months removed from the horror of April 19, 1995. Then, I was a child.

On this day I felt like one again.

As I opened the door to my vocal music class the din of 40-some-odd students discombobulated sounds exploded into the hall. I walked to my chair with the rest of the altos. We had only been in school for two weeks. Just long enough to be classified and placed in the appropriate sections.

I leaned over to my nearest classmate.

“Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

I shook my head. “It’s bad.”

The class was out of control. Clearly, none of them knew. They were horsing around and being a disturbance to those of us who had chosen to take our seats when the bell rang. The band director, our vocal music teacher, came out of his office and placed a radio on a desk. He turned up the volume and asked us to listen. The radio hosts were guessing that maybe it was an accident. They mentioned several times that they didn’t want to presume the implications of the act if it was not an accident.

For a moment, relief swept over me. Maybe it was a terrible accident. Maybe my teacher had been wrong.

Our vocal music instructor was trying to listen and a group of boys in the back were at it again, knocking over music stands and chairs. The teacher had had it. He stood up and shouted. At some point just before this, we listened as the CBS news anchor announced that a second plane had flown into the other tower.

Our teacher stood up again and spoke. He did not shout this time, but his voice was raised.

“You need to understand what this means. Someone has attacked us. This will more than likely mean war. There are some of you sitting in this classroom who could be fighting in this war. Pay attention. We have never seen anything like this. I know you all remember the Oklahoma City bombing, but this is much bigger. If these towers fall, we could see thousands of people die.”

In my mind I tried to figure it out. Two buildings. How many floors are there? How many people work on each floor? I hadn’t seen any photos or video footage, so I didn’t know where each building had been hit. Near the top, right? It had to be. Would they fall? Hadn’t this happened to the WTC before?

Dear God, please let them get out.

They described what we now know were people jumping out of buildings. I have always been very stricken in moments like these, especially when such things are broadcasted on TV. (Over the past few weeks, with all the 9/11 remembrance coverage, I’ve come to find this is known as “secondary trauma”.) My imagination ran wild and I could not comprehend what was happening. Were we safe?

Both buildings fell as I sat in class, praying for the people inside.

The rest of the day is hazy in my memory. I remember the entire student body (at the high school) was called in for an assembly with our new superintendent. He talked to us about what happened and the magnitude of it all. Once again, the fact was mentioned that there would be students in that auditorium who would go on to fight for our freedom. This held true. As far as I know, none of the students in that room on that day were killed as a result of the ensuing wars. For that, I praise God.

Like tragedies for generations past, I know that this event has colored my world. I know that because of it, I pay more attention to everything around me. I do not live in fear, but instead with an understanding of the world that I never had before that day 10 years ago.

Related posts:

1. My Little Gateway Drug
2. What Happened In August
3. Sharing the Love

Related posts:

1. Call it.
2. Sheldon Cooper might be my guardian TV star. Oh dear.
3. 10 Questions I Would Like to See Answered Tonight on LOST

It is clear that you belong in Oklahoma. Seriously, y’all. You pull off the cowboy thing so naturally that you have just got to come down here. I’ll fix up the spare room for you even. Let me know when you’re coming and I’ll plan a big ol’ weekend for you.

Love, your biggest fan,
Elizabeth (of Oklahoma)

Related posts:

1. Long ago…
2. Lillie Mae
3. Where we should have been

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. – Romans 12:1, 2, 9-18

What a precious event that was to witness. As you may have heard from the last post, Jolene and I were indeed up long before first light to watch Prince William of Wales marry Kate Middleton (now bearing the title Duke and Duchess of Cambridge). I am so glad that I woke up to see that. After I placed the tiara on my head and got a little caffeine in my system, I was ready to go. You can check out everything that Jolene and I had to say about the arrivals and the ceremony here. (Warning: Toward the end of the ceremony and during the kiss on the balcony we got a wee bit distracted. Listen at your own risk — of boredom.)

I must correct something that I said on the podcast though. I mentioned that I was 25th cousins to William. Turns out I was wrong and after a little bit of research yesterday I got (some of) my facts straight. Turns out I (and all my cousins second cousins on the Walters side of the family) am 15th cousins to the Duchess of Cambridge, which I had no clue about until two days ago. Now, William proves a little bit trickier, as I haven’t counted back the generations yet, but I know that I am at least 15th cousins with him — likely closer than that, however. It’s through his mother, Princess Diana’s side of the family.

It’s like a mini-episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (I’ll be returning to the “Climbing My Family Tree” series soon)!

• My Anglophilia board on Pinterest has seen a lot of activity over the past few days. I can’t. help. myself.
• The lovely Jen has two different posts about the wedding that are both worth your time.
• George Michael even got in on the festivities and recorded Stevie Wonder’s “You and I” as a gift. A gift that’s free for you!
• And as it turns out, Jack was there. Boy knows people in high places, apparently.
• One of the songs they danced to at their reception – “Your Song” covered by Ellie Goulding
  
• Leave it to the Friar to hit the nail on the head. – “The only subject that came close to people noting, commenting on and so forth about this wedding were all of the people who firmly and with great dripping disdain declared their passionate disinterest in the entire affair, a disinterest so monumental it had to be explicitly shared with us all, lest its absence suggest to someone the hideous possibility that the authors might actually be interested in this entirely uninteresting affair.”
• Michelle had a shindig all her own to celebrate. Seriously, this is awesome!
• Radmegan made hats. That’s some killer craftiness.

I can’t explain why I have enjoyed this so much, or why I shed tears watching her walk down the aisle and hearing them exchange vows with a look of love in their eyes that is so rarely present these days. It was something unmistakable.

Maybe it’s because I thought I was going to marry him when I was 12. Maybe it’s that part of me that’s always been drawn to their culture. Or maybe…part of the wonder that leaves me reveling at the sight of it all is because a wedding, any wedding, is a glimpse of what is to come. Our blessed hope. And seeing those throngs of people waiting to see the couple, celebrating the joining together of the two, is a reminder of how it’s meant to be.

Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s prayer on their wedding day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen.

Related posts:

1. Royal Wedding Countdown: 10 Days
2. Wedding update!
3. Control Yourself

Okay, I don’t usually post videos with half-naked strippers in them on my blog. But you have to see this.

Spotted today at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City — a woman in a wheelchair, wearing nothing but her underwear, holding a poodle in her lap.

WHAT?!

I don’t know if she’s trying to make some kind of statement about TSA searches or what, but it’s weird. Possibly trying to promote this evening’s Victoria’s Secret show?

Watch around 0:36-0:44 — it looks like she’s possessed by the devil.

Thoughts?

(Jolene, you may have even more to look forward to on your trip out here!)

UPDATE: On our local news tonight it was revealed that she is a former Playboy Bunny and “didn’t do it for attention.” She claims she’s done this before and never received so much attention for it. *eye roll*

Related posts:

1. Sunday Afternoon Readathon
2. Jolene & me discuss…stuff.
3. In my own little corner…

Okay folks. (I had a teacher in 8th grade who said that to get our attention. And then just got louder until we shut up. Folks. FOLKS.)

It’s freezing out there. Where I’m sitting in Norman it’s currently 18° F with a windchill of -1° F. Winds have picked up to almost 30 miles per hour here this morning.

Need I say, BRR again?

The puppy, who is usually an outside critter, has been spending the last few days indoors in the evening. Today, tomorrow, and likely Saturday she will be inside all day. I noticed her morning tinkle break took a whole lot less time today. That and now I’m thinking she may not be the early riser that I am. Brought the girl back in and she settled in on her pillow here in the living room to head back to dreamland. Lucky dog.

In the meantime, Kevin and I will be getting ready for the day and heading to work at school. Our district is one of the ones that has chosen not to close this morning, but there are many around the OKC metro area that called their closing yesterday. More have been added to that list this morning. I hear complaints from people raised in other areas of the country that they dealt with temperatures and conditions much lower when they were in school. You know, your typical, “I walked to school in 3′ of snow, uphill both ways!” Yeah, okay. This is Oklahoma. A lot of these kids live below the poverty line and don’t have pants to put on today before they walk to school. I think people might be surprised at the number of kids who wear shorts year-round. And maybe a hoodie. The fact is that not all these kids are prepared and I feel like the Oklahoma City and Edmond districts made a smart decision in closing for the cold temps. The students are the most important thing to consider in a situation like this, not whether mom and dad are going to be late to work because they have to drop them off somewhere or find a sitter. Kids who have a regular ride to school and their parents might not understand the necessity of closing, but if you were in the group that had no choice but to walk and had no parent or family member who cared to clothe you or make sure you had a safe way to get to school, I think you might get an idea.

Now I’m having coffee. And putting on a parka.

Related posts:

1. The Great State Fair of Ooook-lahoma!
2. Giveaway! Science Museum Oklahoma (ahem, Omniplex, ya jerks) Calendar
3. Misheard Toddler Lyric of the Day

• First off, question. Does anyone have a good pizza dough recipe to share? I’m trying to find one that my husband will like. I’ve been using plain old Pillsbury and I’ll be honest: it’s not the best. His issue is with the texture. Mine is with the sweetness. I want something that will provide a thin crust, crispy all over. Nothing doughy.
• Batman. Vanishing.
• This is one of my pet peeves as well. I sometimes wish that people who ask these kinds of questions could understand what it’s like to suffer from chronic health issues that don’t always manifest themselves in a way that is visible to the general public. I mean, I could make that happen, but seriously you do not want that. For the record, I would love to be able to participate in things every time a person asks me to. The issues I have suffered from are one of the reasons that I rarely, if ever, volunteer my time or spread myself too thin with obligations. You get really tired of disappointing people after a while.
• The aforementioned is another reason that I hate it when people flake out on plans with no reason.
• Great post from The Happy Housewife on surviving a deployment when you have small children. I have a few friends in this boat and I thought they might find the article helpful.
• While you’re over at The Happy Housewife, take a look at her recipe for Salmon Turnovers. I can’t wait to try these!
• This week I missed meeting The Pioneer Woman at her book signing in Oklahoma City. *cry* But watching this video made me feel a little bit better.
• A little shoutout to Miss Melissa and all the other NaBloPoMo participants joining in this year! I think this is my second year? Can’t remember. I’ll check my archives. Maybe I should have done that before writing this bullet point and floundering around like an imbecile. But that’s why you love me, right?

Related posts:

1. Sunday Morning Coffee
2. Sunday Morning Coffee
3. Sunday Morning Coffee: Final Cup of Bitterness Edition

Most things have gone back to normal. I still get the tingles sometimes, the pains in my muscles that signal an attack is trying to build up, and the occasional bout of unexplained weepiness. That’s only sometimes though. I feel good and I don’t wake up scared every morning that I’m going to deal with the crippling fear of death’s imminence.

There is one thing that has never really gone back to normal though. Something that had been such a constant in my life that nowadays I will have someone ask me about it and I’ll have to answer with an honest, “I don’t know.” And then they look at me like I’ve entered the room riding one of the horses of the apocalypse.

I stopped watching the news. I turned off NPR. Changed my radio presets to Gospel/preaching*—Classical—Soft rock—Oldies—Pop—Soft rock (in that order according to where they sit on the dial. You know, OCD and all). I turned off the TV for the most part and started watching my Dr. Quinn DVDs whenever I was waiting for my next Netflix DVD.

Some of the things in the news had stirred up a lot of emotions in me. A lot of them in roundabout ways (idiots attempting to bait me with simple discussion questions that turned into a knock-down, drag-out debate) and I won’t say that it was totally the content of the news. Just something about it keys me up. I get a thrill and really enjoy watching most news programs over anything else. But now? My love for journalistic reporting has died down to almost nothing. On one had I can’t stand to hear the anchors sing the praises of Obama, on the other I hate that every word coming out of a person’s mouth is condemnation of the president. There is no middle ground that I see. Even if it did exist, I’m not sure that I’d want to be any part of it. It reminds me too much of being “lukewarm.”

I have eased back into TV “news” just a smidge. I do love Fox & Friends Weekend and if I wake up in time I try to watch it on my couch with a cup of coffee. But it’s not the first thing that I turn on anymore. You’re more likely to find me listening to a relaxation podcast than sitting in front of a TV blasting the headlines. It’s been a nice break and I can’t say that I feel like I’m missing too much. If history is any guide, all it would take to get me sitting in front of the set again would be a national tragedy or celebrity death.** But who knows when I’ll be back to my old routine, if ever. I do have a male residing in my home now and I’ve noticed that the amount of time the dial spends on ESPN has gone up by like 5000%…

*This particular preaching is hard-hitting on the mega-church, GospelLite ™, “prosper in all things” preachers that are so prevalent these days. I like that.
**This was written on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. Who would have known we’d have Farrah and MJ the next day…

Related posts:

1. Meow.
2. Your daily dose of Russian rap/opera.
3. Saturday morning ramblings.

They’ve created this little monster in Japan.

Not exactly Kid Sister or My Buddy. You can read more about her here.

Related posts:

1. Very large guinea pig?
2. 15 Seconds of Feeling Evil…Like a Hobbit
3. “A lot more than a prop to me!”

Related posts:

1. Sunday Morning Coffee: Final Cup of Bitterness Edition