This evening I was momentarily stumped as to where to begin (365:254)

I soon got over it.

This Sunday was different. At church people were exchanging their “Where were you when..?” stories, and the services were extended to include additional prayers. At the 11 o’clock service the adult choir was supplemented by members of the Dury Singers for a performance of a piece specially written for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. To my generation this must be like the assassination of Kennedy was for our parents. One of those key moments in a lifetime.

Growing up with the IRA and their ever-present threat and the actuality of terrorism, and living in a city that 30 years on still hadn’t completed rebuilding after the second world war, my reaction to 9/11 is somewhat different from my American friends. No less saddened by the losses, but not as disbelieving or indignant.

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Today also marks my mother’s birthday. Were she still alive she’d have been 76 today. Oddly, for the first time in several years I miss her.

Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.