September 11th, 2001

Seventeen years ago, this day changed everyone’s life. 2,977 people died today as they were going to work. This is the first September 11th that I’m not in the U.S. Coast Guard. I’m proud of my service to the country during those days and the ones that followed but the last few years of my career, I would be mostly on leave or liberty. Maybe subconsciously I was avoiding it. I rarely watch the news on this day. I’d be lying if it didn’t make me anxious now. One of the reasons it affects me so much is that I saw people and communities directly influenced by the loss from the events of that day and even if you have only a shred of empathy, you can never really close that door. You can’t really forget…