September 23, 2001

Everyday life must triumph over terror

September 23, 2001/ Beverly Beckham

Before, on a September Sunday, I would be looking at the world in all its beauty and thinking that it's going too fast - the month, the fall, the leaves turning, every day getting shorter than the one before. I would ache to slow it down and be sad when I couldn't. September is always a bittersweet time. Before, on a September Sunday, I would drive to church and see pumpkins for sale at Cassie's and I would think, I have to stop on the way home and get some. And I would pass a nursery full of mums, and think, I need to get mums, too, and cornstalks and hay for the wheelbarrow. And I need to repaint the wheelbarrow.

Life Goes On, But In a World Forever Changed

September 16, 2001/ Beverly Beckham

It's hard to know what to do next. Even the essentials seem unessential, showering, dressing, making the bed, making coffee. The gym seems superfluous. A walk feels surreal. Morning is just an extension of the previous day. No need for an alarm. Night and day blend, all the days since Tuesday like time spent in a hospital room waiting to find out what's wrong…

Sheer luck is all that saved some of us

September 12, 2001/ Beverly Beckham

It began as such an ordinary morning. At 8:30 my husband and I boarded Continental Airlines Flight 847, wrestled a bag into an overhead, complimented ourselves on securing a coveted emergency exit row seat and settled back for a flight to Puerto Rico, with a connection in Newark. We were headed for a cruise. The first time the captain came over the loudspeaker it was to announce a small mechanical problem…

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