8 years...

8 years since I moved to Ohio. 

8 years since I left what I had back in Delray Beach.

8 years since I began my 8th grade year.

8 years since I made my friends in Ohio who I still am very close with.

8 years since I sat in the choir room while the principal announced the Twin Towers news.

8 years since I thought "what? where? what is going on?"

8 years since I ran and waited in line to call my friend, then realized I didn't know the number.

8 years since I looked outside and saw a priest and young boy I didn't know then.

8 years since I sat in homeroom as a young boy cried out to the class that he was not a terrorist and to stop treating him like he was.

8 years since I realized that something was not right about the planes.

8 years since I find myself dealing with a lot more security at the airport.

8 years since I figured out we were going to actually go to war and that it would be a long one.

8 years since I stood in the BBHHS stands for a vigil with my American flag sweater on.

8 years

8 years

When did it get to be 8 years?

Where did 8 years go?

Why am I so fixated on it this year more than I have been other years?

Why are we still sending people, young and amazing friends, to fight the attackers?

When will this all end?

What will the history books say for those who were and are too young to know about it?

What will I say about it all? 

Will we still be fighting this for another 8 years?

8 was never a number I found to be that big. 

My little sib in BBBS is 8. She wasn't aware of 9/11. I don't even know if she knows what it is.

I'm a senior in college. Top class at my school again and I'm still as confused as ever.

Do we ever actually figure life out? 

Why did some people survive and others didn't? 

Why do I wish I was close and able to help someone who truly needed help coping with 9/11?

When did we all stop saying the pledge every morning? 

When was it no longer a fresh wound?

Why did I never know about the towers or go to the towers until AFTER they were gone?

Why were those people on those flights hijacked and killed?

"When did we become adults? And how do we make it stop?" - Meredith Grey

The quote may seem cliche, but this is what is running in my head today. 

My heart goes out to everyone today, all those thinking about this day and mourning their loses and wondering when it got to be the 8th anniversary of such a tragedy. Also to the soldiers, specifically Wesley Woodall, who is back for 3rd time and will hopefully come home and enjoy life with all of his friends for good, sooner rather than later. 

-rso-