What were you doing 9 years ago today?

I have wanted to start a blog for a few weeks now.  The one thing holding me back was I could not come up with a name.  I've researched how to name a blog.  I've asked family and friends for their ideas.  Nothing came to mind so I put it away...out of my mind.  Yesterday, I was driving home from running errands, I noticed a sign on what I think was a restaurant....POTLUCK.  That's it!!  That's a great name for my blog.  For you see, I wanted this to be a mixture of my passions, my rants, the loves in my life, and of course it would have to be a little political.  However, I didn't want only my political rants....I wanted, however, to be able to express my love of cooking, my family....just whatever stirs the passions within me for a particular day....hence POTLUCK.  With that discovery, I came home, opened my Facebook page to find a post by a long-time friend, Debbie, who commented after one of my "political status updates", "Mel, do you have a blog"?  That was the affirmation that I needed to go back and complete the start of this blogspot.  You see, one of my daughters had asked me, "why do you want to do this....why would you want people to read what you have to say"....that had put a doubt in my mind....I pushed the desire down thinking, I'm not that important that anyone would want to read my rants.   However, writing down thoughts, dreams, desires, exasperations, is therapy for the soul...at least for me.  If I'm upset and I write about it....it's calming...with a feeling of..."there, I've got it out....I feel better" and I can go on with my day.    Hence, the reason I'm putting these words on cyperspace paper......to feel better....to share (I love to share ideas) to vent....to give opionions (we all have them) whether anyone reads this or not....I feel renewed!

It's 8:54 AM CST on 9/11/10.....9 years after the first plane went into the 1st tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.    I watched the FNC Special about that day last night.    Yes, it was a repeat of the special they had put together a few years ago....it still made me cry.  I still get emotional when I see the events unfold.  Thank you FOX for being the only news outlet that still shows the people jumping out of the top of the WTC to their certain death.  We should all watch that every year as a rememberence of what we are fighting.  I know that some think it's not respectful of the families of those who jumped...however, I think it's that one image among all of the others that brings the emotions to where they should be.  WE MUST NEVER FORGET..who did this horrible act that day.  Why they did it.  And, why they continue to scheme and plan for another one just as horrendous. 

That brings me to today, well, the news events of the last few weeks.  Would anyone, 9 years ago, be thinking that we'd be in the discussions that we find ourselves in with mosque building, Koran burning...or that we'd even have a President with a Muslim name?

Americans forget.  Americans have a forgiving spirit, along with a generous spirit.  We give more than any other country in the world to foreign aid, even to our enemies....that one is for another blog on another day!
But, we should NEVER forget what happened to our country  and our people 9 years ago.  We should never forget the soldiers of our military who have died trying to fight our enemy with one hand tied behind their back. 

The news media should turn off the cameras on that loon in Gainsville, FL and that Iman in N.Y. and focus on the men and women who died that day in N.Y. at the Pentagon, in Shanksville...on the planes ....and on the battlefield for the last years since we were attacked.    Those are who we honor today and remember.   They are the heros in my mind.