Tammie Hetzer-Womack: Readying families, with light: 9/6/10

Columns

Discussion

September 5, 2010

Tammie Hetzer-Womack The Independent The Daily Independent Sun Sep 05, 2010, 10:56 PM EDT

ASHLAND — Early September takes me back to the glint of the sun that morning.

I crawled through weeks of Frankfort red tape, finally approved to fly with the Kentucky State Police helicopter team, hunting dope harvests at dawn. Naïve of the dangers, I drove to their post around 8:30 a.m. for what I pictured to be a thrill-of-the-news-chase sort of day. The sunlit sky was perfectly clear.

Grey-fatigued guys were already there, busting jokes, eating McDonald’s sausage biscuits around a nook table. Minutes later, a distinct, uncertain silence shrouded their captain. Confounded, beside him at the TV, I was offered the choice to stay or go.

He swore what I’d see that Sept. 11 day might change me, and, God bless him, he tried to shield me, said I should go home. Even forewarned if the post emptied in a rush, I’d have no choice but to leave with them. The radio room rattled, troopers scrambled. Could a hijacked plane be hovering near Ashland airspace? Whispers of impromptu game plans.

Fearful young wives showed-up with strollers, longing for their husbands’ hugs and a safe haven. I called my daughter’s elementary school, wondering whether to pick her up.

One year later, at daybreak on Sept. 6, sun rays flecked brightly over Washington, D.C. I climbed aboard the Metro headed to the repairing Pentagon. A dear cousin who worked in the defense command center escorted me down its unsmiling, hushed corridor lit by fresh white paint. It blanketed a newly-constructed wall, masked the stench of burning jet fuel and a year’s worth of heartache.

A somber anniversary was in the midst. He wanted to show me how far America came in a year. Never again. Our country was good and ready for anything.

First light rose over the French Market during my March visit. Landmark Café du Monde fried a batch of beignets. Fishermen trawled near the once-crumbling New Orleans levy, sharing a crawfish catch to nearby Cajun kitchens.

The gulf is sun-drenched, but I still notice the neon spray-painted “X” beaming by the door of the ramshackle, Katrina-abandoned row house. It’s the same as the September morning, some 5 years ago now, when daylight fell on disaster. It marks the spot of darkness and death.

Labor Day usually calls these memories up. September sun isn’t the same for me.

I pray there’s never another sunup, awaking to tragedy. But history proves there will be deluges and gales, even cy

ber attacks, pandemics and man-made misfortune.

All we can do is protect ourselves. September marks National Preparedness Month. Make small efforts to safeguard your homes, businesses, schools and communities.

Get ready with a survival kit, jot down a family emergency plan, stay informed of potential risks, and build a stronger, prepared area by getting involved and teaching others. Learn how at www.ready.gov or www.citizencorps.gov

Americans find the light after the storm. May sun continue to shine on all of us.

Text Only

Columns

Katie Brandenburg: Finding the explorer spirit: 2/10/11
I say I like to explore, but really I’ve never done anything of the sort.

February 9, 2012
Mark Maynard: Charles will be in charge: 2/9/12
It was at least mildly interesting a couple of weeks ago when the deadline for filing for local elected offices came and went without much fanfare.

February 8, 2012
John Cannon: After passion, love still grows: 2/8/12
While a naive student at Morehead State University more than 40 years ago, my then girlfriend made me an offer I could not refuse. It was only later that I learned I should have refused it.

February 7, 2012
Cathie Shaffer: All that’s old is new again: 02/07/12
Every night before I go to bed, I click on my electric blanket. There’s nothing I like better on a cold — OK, lately, it’s been coolish — night than a nice, warm bed.

February 7, 2012
Tim Preston: Art downtown, ‘hippie’ soap, Valentine’s and living-dead machines: 02/05/12
I’m not certain this is anything that could be classified as a trend, although I have noticed something in downtown Ashland I am compelled to encourage.

February 6, 2012
Freeways to freedom
Last week, while driving to South Shore, I glanced at the dealer placard on the car ahead of me on the Jesse Stuart Bridge.

February 6, 2012
Lee Ward: 02/05/2012 — Dieting is a man's world
A male coworker is dieting, apparently for the first time.

February 5, 2012
Katie Brandenburg: Finding a time machine: 2/3/12
My grandmother once told me a story about a boy she grew up with who built a time machine in his family’s shed.

February 2, 2012
John Cannon: Not a chore but a true labor of love: 2/1/12
It was a slow and tedious task, but it was anything but work.

January 31, 2012
Cathie Shaffer: A whiff of the past: 1/31/12
It occurred to me, as I listened to a conversation about today’s home medical treatments versus yesterday’s, that one big factor is the smell.

January 31, 2012
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Discussion

Tammie Hetzer-Womack: Readying families, with light: 9/6/10

Site Map

Contact Us