Well, hello again everyone.

With the events of the past two months, I'll admit I've had more than a little trouble trying to carry on as usual.  Yes, I understand that life must go on & that to do anything less would be like letting the lowlife scum win.  However, when I got the email from Skylark & Boss Lady asking me to please try & write something special for this month & to make it "upbeat" & "positive", it presented a heck of a challenge to me.  Maybe I'm just more sensitive to things than I should be, but there are not any words to describe the feelings of anger, sadness, fear, sympathy, & utter disgust I felt the first day & the week that followed after the Towers incident.  I guess it's a "positive" thing that I wasn't in control of the buttons to nuke the people & their supporters in whatever countries I would have felt were involved.  It would have been a knee-jerk reaction, but I would figure bin laden's death would be guaranteed & hunting him down wouldn't be necessary.  It definitely wouldn't have given him & his cronies time to plan for another attack or a counter-attack from us.  I also would keep the media out of it...... why have them telling the world what our plans are & what terrorists might do to us, that we're not prepared for?

But enough of all that.  Down to business.  I firmly believe that everyone in the USA was touched in one way or another (directly or indirectly) by what happened at the Towers & the Pentagon.  It may be something as small as the Mom & Pop plastics company that had to close because they couldn't sell their small bags that the larger nuts & bolts company bought to sell their product to the larger company that made the seats that they couldn't sell anymore to the company that built the planes that they couldn't sell, due to the airlines not flying as much.  All along the way, you have people that lose their jobs due to something that happened to other people in another state that they didn't even know!  Not much "positive" or "upbeat" there, is there?  Ok, but look at it another way.  We now have people all across this great country of ours (sure, its got its problems, but its still the best in the world), joining together in one of the largest shows of patriotism this country has ever known.  People from all walks of life have volunteered to go to New York & help out in any way they could.  People are starting to talk to their neighbors more & have joined in their support of the war on terrorism.

I can remember the night after the attack, when I lost my cool with my teenage daughter after she made the remark that a friend of hers was acting stupid, because he wouldn't come over that night.  He wanted to stay at home & watch the reports on TV & didn't want to fight traffic due to Sheriff patrol cars all over his neighborhood.  She said it happened in New York & Washington & didn't affect us here & she didn't see what the big deal was.  I apologized the next night, after a very eye-opening talk with my better half.  It had never occurred to me that my daughter had really never experienced or had to deal with anything like this in her lifetime.  I told her, as it turned out, one of the guys I work with had a friend who worked at the Towers.  The day of the attack, he had no idea if he was safe or not.  As fate would have it, he discovered that evening, that his friend had been sick that morning & not gone to work.  There's a "positive" for you.  Also, as I found out a few days later, my parents had a friend from their neighborhood, who was at the Pentagon when the plane hit there.  Fortunately, he was on the other side & was evacuated safely.  "Positive."  I have also discovered since that day, that the CWA (the union that represents telco workers, such as myself & related jobs) had members who lost their lives in the Towers.  This goes to show that even though I didn't know those people, we were still related through our union.

While I had a difficult time accepting what had happened & trying not to feel as though we were on the brink of World War III, I eventually turned myself around.  I was thankful I had a hobby to put my time into to occupy my mind. If only the evil people in this world had a better way to occupy their time.  I was also very thankful for the wonderful woman in my life that is still helping me to see the positive things in all situations.  Regardless of how bad it is, it could always be worse.  While I've always known that, trying to remember it & apply it just doesn't come easy for me.  I am also very proud & thankful to be an American & to see our country pull together & proudly show their patriotism.  I am also thankful that I still have my loved ones here on this world, even during the bad times.  I am also thankful for the wake-up call I received; I feel that sometimes we all take life for granted.  I find myself wondering what some of the people in the Towers had planned for the day, the week, or the month.  Cherish life, because in the next instance it could be gone.  I'm thankful that we have leaders who take the time to come up with a workable attack plan & carry it out.  I'm thankful to be free & have the right to speak my mind (even if Boss Lady does edit it a little).  I'm thankful for my job, my health (not perfect, but still kicking), & this new computer.

Above all, I'm thankful for life & all its wonders.  I'm thankful for another year with my loved ones & another year with my toys.  I'm thankful for all the survivors of the tragedies & for the help & support given to the victims & their families.  And............. I'm thankful for the ability to grieve & mourn for people I don't even know.  Say a prayer for all those yet to be found & especially those who will never be found.  Look around you & discover what you have & be thankful that you have it.  Cherish your family & friends & every minute you breathe on this earth.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Stoneman