Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11/08 - What a day!

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I woke up to a very lovely "Good morning sunshine!, Happy Birthday!" from my lovin' man. What happened after that is now indelibly etched in our memories and heartfelt by the world. 9/11 as we now know it to be, brought so much pain and sorrow, and then a rallying of a nation to stand up, look around, share love and patriotism, smile at a stranger, visit a neighbor, fly OUR flag, shed a tear or more. That day my birthday took a backseat to all that was sadly horrific, and all that we now recall as evil at it worse.

Each September 11th since, I have been able to witness first hand at the school I love, that I work at, a heartbeat of gratitude of appreciation and loyalty that permeates through all that are privileged to participate. Today was such a day.
We invited the Governor, our congressman, each branch of the armed services, the firemen, police, ambulance service that do their amazing jobs every day, to come and let us thank them for all they do to make sure our freedoms are preserved each day that we live. The Governor sent his best wishes, but had a full calendar(probably something about a budget or something) . The congressman sent a representative, and each of the armed forces were represented. We were able to sing their songs of duty, and applaud them for their sacrifices. The students in each one of the classes made "Thank you" cards and presented them to our honored guests.
This gentleman Johnny Griffitts, in Civil War attire, sang our National Anthem, and shared that he wear this uniform to represent all that is wonderful in our past and present as our great men and women sacrifice and serve . He is a Viet Nam Veteran, and proud to be an American. So touching. Our own Landon Luko, a blind student who was the only survivor of a set of triplets, sang "Your a Grand Old Flag" and touched our hearts and wet our eyes.

My good friend Sue Goudy who I work with, proudly stands next to her son, Officer Jason Goudy of the Corona PD. Jason grew up in Corona, and came to Victress Bower as an elementary school "ambassador" and was a peer tutor and volunteer working with our students. He has a love for our kids. His momma is so proud of the man he has become.


What an amazing experience. As year after year our staff and students come together and unitedly stand and say "I'm Proud to be An American".

12 comments:

Marie Rayner said...

Beautiful post Sheryl. I loved reading it and seeing the pictures. Thanks so much for sharing this little bit of your heart with each of us and by the way, Happy Birthday! It looks like it was a lovely one.

Kris said...

Happy Birthday Sheryl! What a great tribute to those that stand for and protect our country!

Lauri said...

First of all, I meant to be the first one yesterday to wish you a happy birthday. Sorry I didn't do that. Hope it was a good one.

Second...how wonderful that your school did such a great tribute. At our school, during third period, one of the students asked why nothing was mentioned during morning announcements. She asked if she could go to the office to see if they would make some sort of announcement. The last period of the day, they finally had a moment of silence...thats all. How pitiful, huh?

Emily said...

This made me cry! Thanks for sharing somthing so touching! Happy birthday!

Caroline Haring said...

Happy Birthday to you! Did you do anything fun?? I love the posts about your school. The kids there are so amazing and touch so many.

Shalece said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Hope it was great, you deserve it.

Sundbergs said...

That was beautiful. I love our country too. Happy BIrthday to you. YOu are such a special lady.

Heidi said...

Happy Happy Birthday mom! and kisses to all those kids!

Grammy Staffy said...

What a beautiful post....and happy belated birthday!
I think I will call you and sing...since I am a day late, it won't spoil your special day.

Lots of Love, Lura

Lisa Webb said...

Happy Birthday Sheryl!!! what a great day!

everyday katie said...

Happy, happy birthday! September is great.

Mama Bear said...

Happy, happy birthday!!! Great post...it is always good to remember what happened on 9/11. How nice of your school to have a tribute!