Lives Forever Changed by 9/11

September 11, 2001 was a day that changed the lives of all Americans forever. For my husband, it solidified his decision to join the Marine Corps and serve his country. I hadn’t met him yet, but this decision also changed the course of my life. I was going to be a military wife. When we got married eight days after he joined, I knew that the next few years were going to be hard—just how hard I couldn’t have imagined.

When my husband got deployed to Iraq for the first time, I was a total wreck. It’s so unnerving to say goodbye to someone you love so much and not know if you will ever see them alive again. We were lucky. Others were not as lucky. Only two months into the deployment, my husband’s battle buddy was killed by an IED. It was a mission my husband was supposed to have been on. If he would have been there, he would have been right next to him. This was too close to home and I was beside myself thinking about how easily it could have been him. I would cringe at every news story, just waiting for a knock on my door too.

Two months after that, I got a call from one of my friends who was also a military wife that lived in my apartment complex. She was bawling and could barely make out the words “Andy’s hurt.” The humvee he was traveling in hit an IED. Three of the five people in the humvee were killed instantly. Andy suffered an injury to his spine and had become a quadriplegic in the blink of an eye. This was WAY too close to home.

When I visited Andy in the hospital it was overwheling to see how many other injured service members there were. Brain injuries, paralyzations, and lost limbs were just some of the things I saw there. Here is a video that documents Andy’s journey. So many people have sacrificed so much: the passengers of those planes, the people in those towers, the firefighters and police officers, the service members that have lost their lives in subsequent wars, injured service members, deployed service members. Every single one of these sacrifices has affected entire families. And they are affected by it every day.

So many lives were forever changed that day, including my own. I just hope that we can take the time to recognize the people that have given so much and give them the respect they deserve. Visit your local VA hospital, send a care package to someone that is deployed, help out a mom that is struggling while her husband is away, and please don’t talk while the national anthem is being sung. We will never forget that day ten years ago. Let’s not forget all the sacrifices that are still being made today for it. Semper Fi.