She lost them both

Children crying, people talking and no one is able to say the true. “I’m sorry sweetie but mommy won’t be coming home tonight. “ On September 11^th 2001 terrorist attacks left families broken and either one or both parents dead. When we think about 9/11 most people think about the people that were lost, but what about those that were left with the heart ache that will never fully go away? I feel this picture tells a story of a little girl finding out what happened to her mother and father on this day and the aunt and grandma that are going to raise her now.

It was a cold fall day in New York City where little Suzy was in 4^th grade. She was at lunch when she first heard that some bad men had flown a plane into the big towers. At the first hearing of this she didn’t pay much attention to it. She knew her mom worked in those towers but she thought her mom was fine. When she got home from school she saw her Aunt Mary and grandma waiting for her at the bus stop. All of a sudden a flood of emotion poured into little Suzy when she came to the realization that what she had just brushed off had come back to eat at her heart. “What happened to mommy?” Suzy asked as the tears began to flow down her cheeks. Grandma looked at Mary and they both new it was going to be hard to tell her that it wasn’t just mommy. Suzy’s dad had been on the plane that crashed into the tower. Now all that Grandma and Aunt Mary could do was to take Suzy into the house and make her dinner and help her with her homework. Every time that Suzy asked about her mom or dad grandma would reply with “Don’t worry honey I’m sure they’ll be home soon.” Though she was only in 4^th grade Suzy knew there was something different in the way Grandma was acting. It wasn’t till the next day when Grandma didn’t take Suzy to school that she explained what happened to her mom and dad and that the funeral service would be tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and the military was there to show respect for Suzy’s father while friends and other family members were there to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Dressed in black from head to foot sitting in the front row was Suzy who could do nothing but cry and cling to the necklace her mom gave her for her birthday last year. It was the only thing she had to remember her mom. Family talked about who would take care of Suzy but she didn’t want anyone to take care of her, she wanted her parents. There wasn’t much else that they could do, they didn’t want her to change schools and they didn’t want to move her to an unfamiliar place. Grandma was too old to take care of a child and Aunt Mary had a boy of her own, and being a single parent was hard enough. Mary decided that Suzy would live with her and they would somehow get by, but Suzy will never forget the day that she lost everything.

Lucas Wheeler