Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

My brother was one of the many brave and courageous men and women who were doing their duty after 9/11.    At the time I didn't really know what was going on when he was deployed to the Middle East, I was in second grade and up until I started school in kindergarten and my brother came home for a bit, I thought I was an only child.  As a child, I didn't understand what happened to our country, to the world even.

Every once in a while I hear a song or two from the weeks after 9/11 when we were constantly listening to a local country station that was doing a lot of work to help out military families.  When I hear these songs that have practically been burned into my memory, I can't help but get emotional and sometimes I cry.  Tonight, while listening to Pandora, Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) by Alan Jackson came on.

I remember distinctly the first time I had heard the song.  I was in the truck with my parents and it was played on air and the three of us kind of lost it.  It still has a similar effect now, but mostly because I'm so thankful that my brother is here with us today, alive and well.

I think that sometimes we need a reminder. For me, I need the reminder that I'm so lucky to have my brother here with us this Christmas, and all the holidays and random days and visits between now and when he came back stateside.  It's a painful to think about; my brother could have very easily been one of those Marines that never made it back home to hug each of us.  Thoughts like that really rattle me, but they make me cherish the moments I have with him and the memories we've created that much more.