Remembering September 11th

Today began as wet and dreary and stayed that way until the evening. There were lots of 9/11 memorial services this morning going on throughout New Jersey, but none very close to us. Trenton and I went to the gym where I watched complete coverage of the service going on at Ground Zero. It was very respectful for the gym employees to observe moments of silence for the four times that the planes crashed, as well as twice for the falling of the towers. Although we were in NJ last year on this date, we were still very busy moving in (I was actually at the DMV and have a driver's license to prove it).
There is just something- some feeling- you get being in this area around 9/11 that I did not feel when I was living in the Midwest. Every person is acutely aware of the somberness of this day. Most people knew someone who was killed on that day or have visited the site of the Twin Towers before. I can remember feeling disappointed and saddened that there were not formal reflective services held in IL... I don't remember seeing anything on the local news, etiher. I guess the farther away from the East Coast you were, the more removed from the situation you could be. Not that these people were any less patriotic-- far from it. But I think that, in time, passions fade, unless you are faced with some concrete images and words from your community.
The New York Times has a great slide show of pictures from today's events here.

We decided to participate in a memorial run held by the New Jersey Road Runner's Club in Belmar. We met for dinner at Fins in Bradley Beach. Jim had this fantastic coconut Tilapia burrito-- I highly recommend it!

At the beginnig of the run, each person was given a flag or a rose to run with. Then, the names of each person from Monmouth County were read aloud by runners in the crowd.
We were told that we'd be running south on the boardwalk, stopping in Spring Lake for a memorial service, and then continuing on. The run was to take place in silence on the way down, and we were encouraged to resume talking to one another on the way back.

The rough seas, cloudy skies, and somber faces all seemed fitting for today. Yet, the sun peaked through the clouds and made it a promising backdrop for our run. We will certainly do it next year, and in the years to come, as we promise to teach Trenton about this day of reflection as he gets older.