The Island of Misfit Boys

I like writing, and I want to keep this space alive, but I also need to be able to make it more me, I need to be able to talk about myself in a way that will be a little less anonymous. So, going forward, I’m going to take several of the suggestions and password protect some of the posts. In going forward, if I want to talk in a way that is less anonymous, then I’m going to do it behind that type of temporary barrier. If you want to read, shoot me an email and I’ll fill you in.

Yesterday, as everyone knows, was the 8th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I remember the day, just like everyone else. One of those days of tragedy that instills itself in your memory forever. I remember the initial confusion, the horrible realization, and then the silence. Even living in a major city, it was silent in a way that still gives me chills. No horns, no loud conversation, no planes overheard. Just small clusters of people, speaking in whispers, searching for answers.

I’ve thought about that day a lot over the last eight years. I was going to school for something very different from what I’m doing now. I was dating a girl I shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t the path for me, but it wasn’t an unhappy path. It would have been fairly lucrative, quiet, safe. I didn’t realize it at the time, not immediately, but I was going to be pushed away from that path in the very near future.

I found myself wanting to do something more. I still remember breaking up with the girlfriend, knowing that in reality she just wasn’t a nice person. Not someone to surround myself with. I remember walking out of a final about 30 minutes into it, knowing suddenly that it was not something I could do for the rest of my life. Not thinking, no wondering, just suddenly knowing it without a doubt. And whether or not I knew it or not at the time, by the time I went home for Christmas in December of 2001 I was already on a path to join the military.

So now I’m getting ready to head to Iraq and I find myself thinking of how much the events of eight years ago shaped my life, and the world we live in now. And just like that, I’m sure that I’ll still remember exactly where I was and exactly how I felt decades from now.