All About Me

Today I have been thinking about a book that a friend of mine mentioned. It's called "All About Me" - She said it a great thing to have to leave for your loved ones - you know when you die.
I thought to myself "how horrible" and then the more that I thought about it I wondered what people would say or think about me after I was gone. And since I do not have a will I should at least put down in my own hand writing somewhere what my last wishes were.
So I think I just might buy one. Saw them on Amazon for ten or so dollars.

Back in the saddle? - Maybe

I have not blogged in forever . . . I fell like I say that every time that I sit down and actually blog. Anyhow . . today's stream of consciencness:

Finish getting the tree and stuff out of the house.
Grocery Shop
Have guilt over not calling my mother - I have this one everyday
Call my sister - we did not chat yesterday
I would really like to get out of town this weekend and ski - I miss my ski friends
ARG is getting sick - there goes my weekend.
Simon is still pulling out all his fur and that is very aggravating.
Need to get that tree out of the house.
Need to get confirmations on housing I am showing tomorrow.
Move the laundry
Need to do companies taxes & get all that over to the accountant
Damn pine needles
My back is still sore nfrom horsing around with my brother on Christmas
Call Dad
Need to get our next trip booked.
Would like to go to FLA in March and visit Ky.
Call the vet about Simon.
Tomorrow is trash day
Take the table back from which I borrowed it
Sort the laundry
Call SR about going away Friday
Pick up Nyquil for ARG
Take the tree out of the house
Head home from work. . . . . . . . .

I got this today and thought I'd share it here . .

This email was forwarded to me from a friend of a friend . . . The Photo is from this morning on the lake. Love Jro
*************************************************************************************

Here we are again approaching September 11th. The sharp pains of the day eight years ago fade a little with time, but I still haven't lost the need to remember the day or to try and make something good of the tragedy.

We can always find the good in a devastating situation. We're human, that's what we do. It's easy to point to individual stories of heroism and grace under unimaginable conditions, they are always there. The stories of the first responders, the doctors, the priests and the co-workers who saved lives, all of the people who provided the shining moments in a truly dark day - these are the stories that we look for to help us cope with the ugly reality of a nightmare come to life. What is harder to find is a way to make a positive of an event like 9/11 after years have passed by, even after the tears have dried and the sharpness of the pain has faded.

Each year since 2002, I have written a letter/email/Note to the people I love on the anniversary of the attacks to try to remind them of the tremendous sense of community that I think we all felt in the days and weeks after the towers fell and the Pentagon burned.

There are many memories from those days. The easy ones are:

I remember F-16s flying combat air patrols over the skies of New York and Washington for months.
I remember Emergency response zones at the rest areas of highways in Connecticut.
I remember seeing no vapor trails in the sky over New England and thinking that I hope I never see that again in my lifetime.
I remember hearing no airplanes and thinking that the silence was eerie, then rejoicing the first time I heard a jet in the sky after a week or two
I remember the constant phone calls to loved ones.
I remember checking names off a list in my head as I heard from people I had feared might be dead.
I remember people reaching out to one another to see what they could do for each other.
I will remember to my dying day, my 78 year old landlady knocking on my door two or three days after 9/11 to see if I was ok. I asked her why she was worried about me and she said "The children will be ok. The old people will be ok - we went through Pearl Harbor, we know what happens next. It's people your age we're worried about". I stood on my stoop and cried at the concern on her face.
I remember love, compassion and caring in the days after as strangers asked each other if they were alright and was there anything they could do help.
I remember people coming together because they cared and it was the right thing to do.
It's easy to remember the sharp, bold acts of heroism, and the people who have become heroes. Mycheal Judge, Tod Beamer, so many others whose stories have been rightly held up as examples.

But year after year, it becomes harder to remember the small, everyday acts of love and caring that were the true miracles in the darkest days I have ever known. We, as a society reached out to each other, comforted each other and came together like no other time that I can bring to mind.

So now I really come to the point of this. Let's create a legacy that is worthy of the tremendous outpouring of love and support and caring that followed the shock and horror of the attacks. Reach out to the people that you love and let them know that you love them. Try to connect with your neighbors and your co-workers and the people you see every day and let them know you care about them.

I can think of no greater tribute to those whose lives were lost on 9/11 than to create a greater sense of community and love in the world so that hopefully someday a day like 9/11 can be thought of as the terrible event that caused us to reevaluate our thinking and truly caused us to come together.

Many of you receiving this will have read previous letters on this anniversary, and I hope that you won't mind reading another.
To those of you who are reading one of my anniversary letters for the first time, please know that I am sending it to you, because at some time in my life we came into contact with one another and you are a part of my life that i feel is important I hope that you will think about that and maybe contact folks who are important to you and let them know that they are a part of your life. Of such gestures, the future is made.

To those of you who receive more than one of these, please bear with me - I have a couple of address books and I'm not that organized.

Thank you all, for your presence in my life. Please know that I treasure knowing you, and with any luck this kind of love and connection can become the ongoing legacy of 9/11

With Love,
Richard

Guilt over not blogging . . .

I've got it! Cooper has been the only one at my desk recently. But I am not even sure if anyone is reading this anyway. Post a Comment if you are checking and I will blog again as soon as I have 3 comments.

10 years . . .

10 YEARS AGO I . . .

1.) was 25 years old.
2.) worked doing a job I hated.
3.) had never skied from a helicopter.
4.) owned less shoes.
5.) didn't know what life was like with a Blackberry.

5 THINGS ON TODAY'S TO-DO LIST
1.) Drop dry cleaning - done
2.) Pick Up Mail - done
3.) Move Laundry
4.) Make Dinner
5.) Give the Coop another pill

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE

1.) Pay off our house
2.) Buy a bigger boat
3.) Take a month long vacation
4.) Buy a house on the Lake for my boat
5.) Figure out how to become a Gazillionaire!

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1.) Ipswich, MA
2.) Fair Haven, NJ
3.) Poultney, VT
4.) Quincy, MA
5.) Stratham, NH

5 JOBS I'VE HAD
1.) Hostess at Pizzeria UNO
2.) Executive Assistant to Treasurer at BIG company
3.) Nanny live -in and out
4.) House Cleaner
5.) Real Estate Agent

Only 2 people actually look at this so I am tagging both of you to copy and add to your Blog - Katie and Lorraine!