In the Shadows of 9/11

I think just about everyone recalls where they were on that day.  I was at home.  I was in the process of getting out of the "Day Trader" business and devoting more of my time to my real passion, crochet.  I got up in the morning, made my coffee, and turned on the PC to glance at opening stock prices and to check my email for crochet news.  I recall seeing a blurb on AOL about a plane hitting a building.  My first thought was of King Kong -- the movie that haunted me in my childhood.  I thought it must have been some little plane where perhaps the pilot had a medical problem and lost control ... I had decided to turn my televison on to learn more about what was going on ...

I recall the great amount of emotions I felt:  horror, grief, anger.   I also recall feeling proud.  Proud because of the way our country pulled together to help one another through this very difficult period -- just as we are today in the shadows of Hurricane Katrina.

Ask any crocheter or knitter what their stitch work looked like during 9/11 and they will tell you that their work was tighter than usual.  But the stitches continued, the stress relieved, people were aided.  Many picked up the hook and the needles during this time and joined in.

We had our monthly crochet club meeting today and a member of the online Connecticut Crochet group joined us; we're helping her assemble afghans that will benefit survivors of the Hurricane.  Since 9/11, our group has reached out to several of local charities, and even to some far away.  Stitch by stitch we have been reaching out to strangers to help in some small way. 

It's nice to know we humans can come together, like the thousands of loops in the fabric we crochet or knit, to create a comforting environment.  Much like an afghan being wrapped around the shoulders of someone who has lost everything.  Becoming (to quote the cotton slogan) "the fabric of our lives."  And that, to me, is worth remembering and passing on.