Ten Years Later......

First of all, I hope I don't have to apologize after every single home football game we go to this year. This time it wasn't the clock that got me, but the Internet demons. I couldn't get my connect card to .... well, connect .... in the RV last night. I couldn't even post something stupid on Facebook from my iPhone. I was in a college town, for Pete's sake. Did those college students use up ALL the internet in Athens?

I went for a bike ride today, and I rode with a heavy heart. Not even the perfectly blue skies and pleasant temperatures lifted my mood. I was gloomy. I wore my American flag cycling jersey, hoping that at least on this particular day it might deter motorists from hating me just for riding my bike on their roads. Or at least keep them from running me over. I think it worked.

The only time I sort of smiled was when I rode near the tiny airport in our town, and a small airplane was taking off. Its shadow passed directly over me, and I thought that was cool. I rode 35 miles, wanting to get home in time for kickoff of the pro football season. I was aware that every game would feature some kind of memorial to those who lost their lives on 9/11/01, but I wasn't prepared for how profoundly they would affect me. I've even cried watching the commercials. Particularly the one with the Budweiser Clydesdales. Search for it if you haven't seen it. I haven't seen many commercials on television that can be so moving without a single word being spoken.

Even during last night's debacle football game between Georgia and South Carolina (which didn't USED to be a rivalry), the two marching bands combined for a tribute. It was very powerful. At the end of the halftime show there were some chants of "U-S-A," but they lost steam.

I've already written about where I was and what I was doing when I got the news about 9/11. The thing that always sticks out in my mind, though, is saying to a group of students, "This is going to change life as we know it." But of course I didn't really have any idea how, or to what extent.

Damn the terrorists for making me gloomy on what should have been a perfect day.

I mean, damn them for a host of other reasons too.