A Dragonfly Day.....

Last night I watched a two hour special on TV - "The Women of 911". Robin Robertson interviewed about a dozen women who shared their stories of where they were that morning and how that day affected them. Some were in the buildings, others were on the street, some were first responders. It was a sadly fascinating special and it certainly brought back memories. The moments captured by photographers as the events unfolded were heartbreaking. Everyone in my generation knows exactly where they were and what they were doing on that day. For Dave and I it was an amazingly beautiful blue-sky day spent sailing Connemara eastward across Naragansett Bay toward the East River....we planned to go down the river to the Hudson to see Manhatten from our little sailboat. We had no idea what had happened the morning of 9/11 until we dropped anchor about 3:00 and Dave went to shore in the dingy for a few provisions. He came racing back and we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening glued to our small screen TV and watched in horror the replay as the Twin Towers collapsed, that black smoke rolled through the city.

Today, almost 20 years later Fenway and I went out mid-morning for a short walk.....our route took us along the creek and into a small park. It was an absolutely beautiful, blue-sky-with-puffy-white-clouds kind of Wisconsin day. Perfect weather for another dog walk. As I moved toward the creek I began to notice dragonflies....hundreds of them as I moved along. All of them were flying, none resting on any plants in order for me to grab a photo. They were zipping this way and that for whatever reason dragonflies behave this way....eating something?? Mating ritual?? All I know is that it was fun and interesting to watch them going up and down, back and forth....filling my field of vision.

Fenway and I turned for home after about 15 minutes and I watched more as we walked back to the condo.....and then I heard a plane overhead. It was probably headed in for a routine landing at the Milwaukee airport. But the sound of that jet engine above, after having just seen 9/11 re-played on television made me almost stumble.

In a flash I was thinking "that's the sound that NYC heard just before the first plane hit the first tower....and once again as plane number two made impact....and the plane that hit the Pentagon...and the one that went down in Pennsylvania."

A jet flying overhead....a pretty common background noise for many of us in many parts of the US. But today, after enjoying a beautiful dragonfly morning, the sound proved haunting. 

20 years......