9-11 + 10 Years + 1 Day. Some thoughts.

Personally, as someone who lives now and lived then, in the NYC area, I had a personal goal this weekend; get through it with out letting anyone or anything make me crazy. Or crazier. I had to resist the temptation (cause I looked on line for a list of events) to go over to St. Pats, as the FDNY was having a special mass for the FDNY families. And, for the recession, there was supposed to be a mob of all available off duty FDNY out in dress blues, for the honor guard. And it would have been an emotionally stirring thing to see. And that's why I should have stayed away from it.

Shit. On Friday, while on my break from that temp gig I was working down at The Battery, I caught the tail end at the staging area for a small parade for LEOS and First Responders. Merely hearing the Suffolk County drums and pipes start up and go on march stirred me deeply. I almost lost it.

So I was resolved to stay on my side of the river, and sleep late Sunday morning, and hope nothing bad happened. But later Saturday night I got a phone call from a friend, and went into the city to sing Karaoke with Australians.

That was about as good a way for me to spend this weekend, as any. Don't get me wrong. There are lots of people with greater reason to grieve and mourn. But doing something life affirming was the better way to go, for me. And I stayed overnight in the city. And when I finally got around to getting back here, I manged to get pulled in the direction of the one firehouse, the Broadway Company. This is the house that P. Obama visited after OBL was disposed of. Anyway it was not just dead reconing that drew me there. It was the pipes. Catty Corner from the firehouse is an Irish Bar, there on 8th Ave. Seems that some firefighters had taken over the upper floor of the place, and the large windows were open, and they were mourning their dead in a boisterous fashion. I wasn't all that drawn in to at least go in the main room and have a pint near the party. It was their thing. I brushed against it close enough.

Oh. And I saw some fire fighters from Norway. Really. People came from all over to pay respects. Good for them.