I was encouraged by a friend who is active in the Wounded Warriors Program to go to Michael Kiefer’s memorial page and write something.
He was a fireman who gave his life in 9/11. Others might want to go there too: click here.
I can only say how much I empathize.
The night before 9/11 I woke just after midnight MDT and felt sick, yet I knew I wasn’t. I tried to go to sleep but felt as though I was being kicked in the stomach. It was very strange.
I wasn’t physically ill, yet I felt horrible.
I finally pulled myself out of bed at about 5.30 in the morn
ing. I hadn’t slept anyway. I made coffee and sat on the porch trying to figure out why I had such a strange sickness.
I’d never had anything like it in my life. Neighbors stopped and asked if I’d seen the news. “No, I said, “what’s happening?”
When I watched the news, with the towers falling, panic-stricken people running, and heard their stories, I knew why I’d felt kicked in the gut.
It was such a tragedy all the way around.
From several experiences that I’ve had with those who’ve crossed over (relatives and a friend), I believe they live on. C.S. Lewis writes in his lovely little book, A Grief Observed, that our grief often prevents us from feeling their presence. That has been my experience as well.
May you find the strength to move beyond the grief and know that Michael and all your loved ones are safe and well, out of this place of suffering and continuing their journey on another plane.
They come back to check on us because our lives are interwoven into some mysterious tapestry that we don’t really understand.