I remember when…
I remember when my parents could meet at the gate at the airport.
September 11, 2001, affected everyone differently, but this is how it hit me first. The airport. The quarrantine at the gate before take off. The lonely walk to baggage upon arrival. Our children will never know what it’s like to run off the jetway into your loving arms. It’s such a small thing.
That loneliness is indicative of how things have changed. Strangers eyeing strangers with suspicion. Being told to report “people who look like terrorists.” And watching as slowly the world turned against us, wondering how we could be so wrong on a such a large scale.
My parents always had their I remember whens. When man walked on the moon. When JFK was assassinated. When Vietnam broke out.
Our generation has our “I remember when” now.
I wonder what it will be like when our children are grown, and that day eight years ago is the stuff of legends. Folklore. Life just always was this way…
And I wonder what their “I remember when” will be…
Average Jane 