September 11, 2011 marked the 10th anniversary of the murders on 9/11. President Bush made a television special on this anniversary of his accounts and his personal experience on that day.

TiVo taped it for me and there it sat.

For 5 1/2 months.

I couldn’t bear to watch it and I couldn’t bear to delete it, so there it sat beckoning me to watch. Yet I resisted. I resisted because it was too painful. After 10 years, it was still too much for me to take and I knew that it would immediately take me back to that day.

It was 2001 and my daughter was 1 1/2 years old. It was around 9:30 a.m. and we were playing together. Barney was on the television when I got a phone call. It was my sister telling me that something terrible was happening in New York and to turn on the television to a local channel.

I did.

With my innocent daughter at my feet, I sat there, eyes glued to the tv like millions of others. Helpless and crying over the loss of life and wondering what the hell was going on in the world. What kind of world was my daughter growing up in? What was going to happen? Those people! Their families!  Such evil at our doorstep.

So, last night, I decided that I was going to watch the President and go through it again.  I felt that I owed it to the people who died, the people who risked their lives in the recovery, the families of those lost, our military who was ordered to react and our President who led us through ~ to never forget.

So I watched.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I listened to his words and saw the images of that day.

President Bush, I salute you for reacting the way that you did and for making strong decisions in an impossible time ~ for being a leader and putting the people and freedom at the forefront of the recovery of this great nation.  I could see the pain in your eyes as you spoke of that day and I knew that you were right there with all of us, in pain and sadness.

What does this have to do with Decorah, Iowa?

Well, Decorah is home to two bald eagles who have nested together for several years.  Each year the event is captured on ustream.  My children and I watched last year as they laid their eggs, carefully tended to them, hatched their young, and cared for them ~ until they fledged and flew off to a life of their own.

The bald eagle, the symbol of our great nation, thriving ~ live before my very eyes.  Watching this makes me feel that freedom lives on.  Freedom survived in the face of the tragedy on 9/11/01 and it continues on. And it will continue on, just as these eagles will come back to the same nest every year and making more freedom eagles.

It makes me feel hope.

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What gives you hope in the face of tragedy?