A Corner Table in My World

This time of year is always difficult for me.   Difficult.   It’s a ridiculous word to describe it really.   Difficult? This time of year is always painful for me.   Over the years, the pain quotient has varied – some years more, some years less.   But always, always , the pain is there. It’s this time of year when the dreams come back strong and I get even less sleep than normal.   It’s at this time of year that the memories are strongest; memories that the rest of the year I can push in to the recesses of my mind.   Things that most of the time I’d rather be able to forget.   I know that’s not only an unrealistic way of dealing with something, it’s not a fair way.   It’s just an easy way out of a hard situation, which is hardly a mature way of dealing with anything. But that’s the thing, when those memories are strongest and the pain makes its reappearance, I don’t feel very mature.   I feel like that 16-year...

There are times and events in our lives that bring on moments of reflection where you ask yourself questions like “where were you?” or “what were you doing?”…  Today, I think, is one of those days.  And I think it always will be. Looking back through history there are dozens, if not, 100’s of events that occurred on September 11 that were important enough, relevant enough, to shape the world that existed at the time.  There have been natural disasters, important battles in distant times, the beginning of important architectural projects, the death of prominent world figures, even the development of new weapon platforms… Yet few events are remembered as well, or with the same level of feeling, as the terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001.  Even a decade later, the shockwaves of fear, pain, loss, love and terror that swept the nation, and the world, can still be felt whenever it is thought of. I can think back, and I don’t h...