“Heaven 9-11″: We Remember [VIDEO]

The 11th anniversary of 9/11 today has been a strange one for me.  For one, we’ve been knee-deep in coverage of the Sheep Herder Hill Fire – watching parts of our beloved mountain go up in smoke, and crossing our fingers that the rest of it doesn’t.  Days like today make you appreciate those firefighters and first responders a little more, when you can literally see the life-saving work they do and the dangers they face going on outside your window.

It’s also that same feeling that has been sinking in the last few anniversaries of 9/11 – particularly last year, when we marked the 10th – that “there’s no way it could have been that long ago”.  Seems like just yesterday I was stumbling out of bed to turn on those stunning images coming from New York, and eventually the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania, and try to make sense of it all.  (Eleven years later, I still haven’t.)

There were a ton of musical tributes in the days that followed – but for some reason, this one that came out last year always connected with me the most.  (And by “connected”, I mean “makes me bawl like a schoolgirl”.)  I’m assuming it’s because it focuses on the real “aftermath” of that day and the days that followed – from the point of view of a little girl growing up without her father.  My own little girl was born into what seemed to be a pretty crazy world just a few days after the towers fell – and I can’t imagine the past 11 years without her, or vice versa.

Squeeze those you love a little tighter tonight, say a little prayer for our firefighters on the mountain, and maybe even do a little rain dance.  Never forget!