I woke up feeling solemn today, on the 11 anniversary of 9-11. It's funny how we never say September 11. It's always 9-11. I watched the President's speech, and I thank him for not being political, just being our President on this occasion. Today, maybe for the first time, he was the President of the United States, as a whole. Today, he was my Commander in Chief.
As I sat and watched the coverage of the events of today, I realized I didn't have my flag up. My husband leaves before light, or as the light is breaking. He's normally the one to raise the flag. I texted him to see if he wanted me to put the flag up at half mast. He didn't answer. He must have been busy. I made the command decision to do it.
My house is on a busy road, being the road in front of the high school. My husband is always the one to do these things, and I was a bit nervous. What if the flag unfolded before I was ready? What if it started to touch the ground? I have a really tall pole, what if I couldn't raise it fast enough? Who was watching me?
I put these thoughts out of my mind, lowered the clips and attached the flag. Raised it up fast, then started lowering it slowly. I noticed in my side vision, a truck had stopped. It stopped dead in the road in the inside lane (cars sometimes park in the outside lane). He stayed stopped until I tied off the flag at half mast. As I was tying it off, he drove on. I was intent on making no mistakes, but I think I heard a car door shut. I think he actually got out of his truck. I looked after I tied off the flag and he hadn't dropped anyone off.
Patriotism is still alive in America. May we never forget that 11 years ago, we were not Republican or Democrat, white or black or yellow or red. We were Americans
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