Shanksville

There are a couple of places in this world that feel bigger than myself.  Places that you can feel God's presence.  Places that you know are extra special because of the people who have gone through or the things that have been experienced there.  Places that make you stop, look at your life, and crave more from yourself. 



There's Larrabee

The church that we will get married in really really soon

And there's this little mountain town in rural Pennsylvania.  Rural isn't even a good word for it because it is so so so rural.  Tiny.  Unheard of. 

But, it's sacred ground. 


There is a special spot in my heart for Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

We visited it a couple years ago.  Not because it was on the way to something, but because we really felt in our souls that we had to.  Back then, there were plans for a National Memorial, but that was at the drawing board level.  Back then, it was just a little ranger station filled with mementos from across the country. 

Because, I guess other people knew that they had to go too. 

A volunteer stood in front of benches that were donated, which contained the names of the heroes on that flight.  She stood there and told their story and repeated the words that they spoke.  Their last words. 

And you felt it.  Even if you didn't have the volunteer or the fireman shirts or the flags, that ground spoke to you. 



I will never forget the sky. 

How it resembled the same sky ten years ago.   How crystal clear it looked.  How it was so beautiful and quiet.  How the sun split through the clouds. 



How ten years ago I called my future husband because I heard a plane crashed in Pennsylvania, and he lived in Pennsylvania, and I needed to make sure he was okay. 

I'm not going to focus on how much time has passed though, because every year I feel like this.  I feel like I need to.  I need to curl up in bed and watch the footage, and open my heart to those we lost and those who are still grieving.  And remember what I felt at Shanksville, looking out in that field, at the burial site for amazing Americans.



We may never get to go to the new Memorial.  We'll try, but if we don't, our experience was enough for a lifetime.