God Wept

This post was planned for last week, but my new "used" computer died, and I was finally forced into the modern world, kicking and screaming, with an "All in one," which absolutely can't be a computer and Windows 10, which turned out to be a lot less scary than I'd been led to believe. Thanks to the best of the Geek Squad, who salvaged programs that go back to 2003, as well as my $300 Oxford English Dictionary. Wow!

So here is the post that should have appeared late last Sunday after a very moving 9/11 Memorial in Oviedo, Florida. I was there because The Citrus Singers were performing two numbers, and my daughter, their director, was singing "Amazing Grace." The event started late, due to a sudden squall, which came back right in the middle of all the speeches. Susie sang from "under the canopy." I had brought an umbrella and was one of the few who didn't have to take shelter. And as I heard the Moderator, the Mayor, a Seminole County Commissioner, and our District 4 Representative speak - and watched memorials dedicated to the fallen policemen and firemen from Seminole County while the rain beat down and we remembered not only the 3000 who died in the towers but all the first responders who have died of diseased lungs since, I could only think, "God Wept." The gloom seemed fitting.

But through some mysterious means, the clouds parted for The Citrus Singers, only one of whom was even born in 2001. The girls were able to stand and sing in the open at beginning and end without being deluged.  Below - hopefully - is a link to their final number, "America the Beautiful."

For the Citrus Singers, click here. 

And here are three photos I took in spite of the rain. The soldier in the white coat stood even more stiffly than the guards at Buckingham Palace, but I notice he bowed his head while Susie sang "Amazing Grace." The entire event, by the way, was outside Rock & Brews in Oviedo, a franchise owned by the rock group Kiss.

Fifteen years, and we each still remember where we were that day.) I was living in Venice, Florida, at the time, and Susie called me just long enough to shout, "Turn on your TV!" And, alas, Venice turned out to be the place where the leader of the pilots learned how to fly. He even lived in my part of town - I'm quite sure I saw him walking to the airport two or three different times. 

Our sleepy little town was swarmed by the FBI the next day. They even confiscated all the computers in our quiet little library, as that is how he communicated with the others. Needless to say, that flight school never operated again. 

So I was very glad I had an opportunity to attend such a well-organized memorial service, even if  we all ended up rather damp. It might have been conducted in the parking lot of a Rock & Roll restaurant in the pouring rain, but it was sincere and well done. I'm glad I was there.

~ * ~  

Thanks for stopping by,

       Grace

 

For Grace's website, listing all books as Blair Bancroft, click here.

For a brochure for Grace's editing service, Best Foot Forward, click here.