09.11.01

Midnight.  Another anniversary of 09/11 over.  What could I possibly say that would add anything to today’s conversation?  Of course I remember it.  Of course I was impacted by it.  Who of us will ever forget the images we saw on television, the words heard over and over on our chosen television or radio stations.  It was surreal, and remains so to this day.

I have been reading snippets all day of people sharing where they were or what they were doing when it happened.  I could do the same – awakened by father-in-law’s telephone call making sure my husband was not flying anywhere that day on business.  We hurried to the television, watched in horror.  Eventually tore ourselves away, made it in to work where we huddled over CNN.com and other websites, unable to think of anything else.

But to go into more detail seems hollow, for I did not lose anyone I knew, did not lose the security of my city, my country in a mere moment that day. 

However, there is one thing I can add.  Where I was and what I did was not nearly as significant as something else I saw that day. 

At that time, we lived about 90 minutes outside of Vancouver, BC.  We each had a commute, but to different points outside of the city.  My drive every day took me along a little road that ran for a long way along the Canada/US border.  I used to choose this route because it was a peaceful country road, more suited to contemplation and coffee drinking than the major routes.

We will never forget the images we saw on television.  They were nightmares come true, and they imprinted themselves upon a generation.  However, as I drove to work that day I had the occasion to drive by one of the border crossings located near Vancouver.  It was perhaps three hours after the strike had occurred, and the border had been completely closed.  A large number of police cars and barricades blocked any access to the area.  As I realized what was happening, and tried to make my way around the snarl of cars, I also became aware of something else.  

It was the first day I ever realized, all the time I had been driving only 20 feet from another country, that they might ever consider us an enemy.  And what my life might look like if that day had suddenly occurred.