9/11 (1942)

So here we are, fifteen years later. No one over a certain age needs a reminder of what happened in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia on 9/11/2001. I thought of those events first thing upon waking and headed immediately downstairs to put out the flag. I didn’t need an alarm or a Google alert to bring back the memories of that awful day. The images are seared in my brain the same way the image of a naked Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack and a shocked and grieving student bending over a corpse in Kent, Ohio, are forever etched into my memory.

On a more personal note it is not the national tragedy of 9/11 that fills me with remorse today, heavy though those memories are. No, for me the Google alert that slapped me in the face was that my dearest friend Don would have turned 74 today had he not succumbed to a heart attack last December. In fact, I didn’t need Google to remind me of his birthday. Mine is in eight days, so it’s always been easy to remember Don’s. He too was a Virgo, one of many things we shared.

In the eight-and-a-half months since he died the pain has of course lessened and the memories are mostly of all the good times we had during our fifty-year friendship. But I still find myself thinking “I have to tell Don about . . .” before I stop myself and remember that will never happen again.

I miss Don every day, just as the 9/11 families miss their loved ones. On this day, in my way, I share their pain.

Don Dale 9/11/1942 - 12/28/2015