Flight 93 Memorial

On our way home from vacation last month we pulled over for lunch in an Arby's in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania.  In the midst of bathroom breaks and diaper changes, and of course eating our lunch we struck up conversations with two men in the resturant.  One was a 96 year old WWII veteran whom Joel was able to share the gospel with.  I was proud of Joel, it can be hard to change the topic from "the cute kids" to "where are you going when you die".  The other man alerted us to the fact that we were but a few miles from his hometown, the site of the flight 93 crash ten years ago.  He told us his story about that day, being so close by (his daughter watched it from her school window) and we decided to make a detour and visit this site. 
All the final work was not done, I believe they had it ready for last Saturday, but we did get to see the temporary exhibit housed in the original shed that was used by the FBI and other investigators.   A huge storm was rolling in as we were there, but it was sobering to see the large area where so many lost their lives.  In the picture above, the gray pavement looking area in the background is the site of the crash.  Most of our children were not even born.  Nate was two, and Jeremiah not quite one years old when my mom called me from the beach.  She knew we didn't have a TV (and still don't) and had just moved to a new area, where I didn't know the neighbors.  I couldn't believe it.  I took Nate and went next door (Jeremiah was asleep in his crib) to watch the news with our brand-newly met neighbors.  I think this is for my generation, the event that we will remember where we were, and what we were doing.  I was washing dishes in my kitchen :)  My mom remembers Kennedy being shot when she was younger and what she was doing at that time.  It is weird that I had to explain exactly what we were looking at to the younger children.  It didn't happen in their lifetime, so they won't have any real memory of it. 

PS-the WWII vet did not seem very open, but we are glad that we had the oppurtunity to share our faith with him. 
PSS-all those hills in PA!  They are a scarier experience in a huge van than in a small car.  And we learned that those hills make Benny car-sick :(  I can't say I cherish the view from the side of a cliff, going fifty miles an hour, wondering if we will need the runaway truck ramps!)  The view is quite beautiful though.