Where Was I on 9/11

I was in bed half asleep, half listening to Good Morning America. I heard Dianne Sawyer signing off and then I heard her say, "We have a breaking news bulletin, The World Trade Center is on Fire." That completely woke me up because I knew it had to be bad. Then they showed a picture of the top of the building with the flames billowing out of the sides. My first thought was, "Oh my God, there must be at least 5,000 people up there!"

I stared in horror at the tv and then I got up and went downstairs to Sis's bedroom because the tv upstairs didn't get good reception. I spent the rest of the day in Sis's bed crying in horror with each development. It felt like somebody kept punching me in the stomach with each piece of bad news.

I have to confess I didn't understand that it was a terrorist attack at first. I just thought something was going horribly wrong with the flight controllers or the airport or something - even when the second plane hit, I didn't think about terrorism. That was about the time the news media went nuts talking about it. I just couldn't fathom it although I had always wondered why we didn't have terrorist attacks in the US.

Then the plane crashed into the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. You didn't have to knock me over the head anymore. Even I understood that it was terrorism by this time. Sis came home about the same time as the 2nd. plane hit. She didn't understand what I was even trying to tell her.

Then the first tower fell and I didn't comprehend what I was seeing. I just thought something exploded. When Peter Jennings said the tower had fallen, I thought, "surely, not. he's mistaken." He wasn't.

Then I watched a reporter grill a fireman because she was angry that the NYFD had ordered an evacuation of the 2nd. tower even though there were civilians inside. She was relentless and the poor fireman kept his composure as she treated him like crap. I still wonder if she has ever realized what a piece of crap she was.

Until that day I had always made fun of people who would tell you where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. (I was in my crib) Now I understand. I wish I didn't.

50 things I did in August

1. went shopping for clothes

2. returned some clothes

3. FINALLY found some crocs to fit me (and on sale to boot)

4. worked

5. loafed

6. screwed

7. ate

8. went to Sis' house

9. started new blog on thoughts

10. went to my birthday dinner at my uncle's and aunt's

11. saw my nephew for the first time in 4 years

12. went fishing

13. swam

14. showered

15. played rummy

17. watched "Space Camp" about 20 times

18. drove

19. got my favorite hotdogs

20. went on salt overload

21. tried to initiate desalination procedures

22. watched "One Life to Live" almost everyday

23. obsessed over "America's Got Talent"

24. exposed silly girls' plot at work

25. stopped a bully from killing somebody

26. gave out clothes to low income disabled and elderly people

27. gave food to low income disabled and elderly people

28. got a computer

29. got an oil change

30. got a VCR and DVR combo

31. learned to copy my old home movies on DVR

32. learned yet another family secret I could have done without knowing

33. gained 10 lbs.

34. lost 10 lbs.

35. gained 10 lbs again

36. loved and hated Eddie - as usual

37. wrote a lot of drivel

38. harvested my hot peppers that I grew in my window sill

39. actually got my apartment clean

40. messed it back up again

41. petted fattycatty

42. watched so many movies that I can't remember any of them

43. cancelled Netflix acct.

44. laughed

45. cried

46. smoked

47. borrowed money from Eddie

48. paid him back

49. loaned Eddie Money

50. slept

I Remember a Wheelchair...

It was postitively prehistoric by today's standards. Although I am sure at the time it was top of the line. To me, it looked like a lawnchair with wheels. But it was tiny and so was the kid that used it. His name was Randy. He had muscular distrophy. Whenever he didn't come to school (which was a lot) it would sit empty in the corner of the classroom.

He wasn't full of sunshine and light, like they tell you on the telethon. He was actually kind of grouchy and mean. They told us to ignore that because he was going through things we could never understand - so we did. When he came to school we played with him. If he felt like playing kickball we would all scoot in from the field while the pitcher rolled the ball straight at his foot. When he could manage a kick, the ball would bobble a couple of feet to the side. Then one of the big boys would push his chair around the field. Sometimes he would make it to first base, sometimes he would get thrown out - just like the rest of us. Every now and then, through a comedy of errors, he would get that homerun! I remember once he was in right field and the ball went straight to him. He caught it. The celebration was truely monumental (even the kid that kicked the ball celebrated that one).

Mostly he just sat on the sidelines and cheered and did plenty of trash talkin'.

In the fifth grade they moved the class upstairs. The big boys (6 th. graders) would come and get him 10 minutes before and after recess and lunch. They would carry him, wheelchair and all, either up or down 2 flights of stairs. Just think of the hell that would be raised if that happened today! I think it made us all closer.

In the 7th. grade we moved to junior high school. Randy did not come with us.

He died when I was in the 9th. grade.

Please donate to muscular dystrophy:

www.mda.org

WE Used to Collect for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon

Back in the 70's when people went door to door to collect money for "Jerry's Kids" and you didn't have to worry about them stealing it, we would collect money every year. We went on lots of vacations when I was a kid. We spent nearly every weekend in the Great Smokey Mountains or we were in Florida or we were camping at Summersville Lake. No matter where we were my parents made sure we got home the Sunday before Labor Day so that we could spend Monday collecting for Jerry's Kids.

My friend Sherri and I would go together and Billy and Rhonda would go together. Billy and Rhonda would get the houses closer to our house because they were younger. Sherri and I would roam our whole neighborhood collecting and sometimes roam down to Mitchell Heights too. Some years daddy would drive us to neighborhoods all over Logan to collect.

My parents would give us a glass jar to carry because they said people would give more if they could see money in the jar. Daddy used to make sure that we had "seed money" to start also. He would put a bunch of change and a few ones and an occasional $5 in there so people would give more money. Then we would go out and spend the afternoon collecting for muscular dystrophy. We had to be home by 5 o'clock so that we could count the money and take it to Logan to the local telethon office at the Aracoma Hotel. (I may be wrong but I don't think they had credit card donations in those days - everything was done the old fashioned way by CASH!)

The first few years we would have around $50 and then it went up to the $75 range. Finally we would be so close to $100 that my dad would just add the rest to it so we could make the REALLY BIG DONATION! We were always so proud to march in that Hotel with our jar full of money and all the people would make a big deal out of it. Which it was a big deal. There weren't a whole lot of $100 donations back in those days and we were really happy to help those kids.

Afterwards we would all go to Dairy Queen and get Mister Mistys and hot dogs. It was a great day every year. It is sad that today's kids can't do stuff like that. They are really missing out.