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Her green eyes danced like emeralds as she recalled her day at school and all the wonderful things she and her friends did.
I looked at her hair. Chestnut brown with natural sun streaks of reddish-brown mingled with honey. I thought of how some women pay a lot of money to get their hair that color and with just the right amount of contrasting streaks. Hers is natural.
Her face exemplifies pure innocence. She is seven years old. She is my middle grand girl.
I was sitting on the end of the love seat in my living room when she ran over and plopped down in my lap and gave me the usual hug that tells me of the pure love of a child to their grandmother. I held her tightly and smelled the sweetness of the back of her neck.
Turn the pages back seven years.
I once again was sitting on the end of the love seat in my living room. This time I was getting a squirming little 4 month old girl ready to go visit her Mommy at work. She wanted to show off her new baby. Pink dress with matching bows and booties complemented the beauty of this precious little baby.
Her Mommy worked for a major insurance company located in Chattanooga about 3 miles from Lovell Field...the local airport.
The phone rang and her Mommy was on the other end. "Mom, do you have the TV on?" Well, no...I was busy getting her child ready for 'show off' day. She told me the World Trade Center had just been hit by a plane. I grabbed the remote and clicked the TV on. I thought I was seeing a replay of an awful mistake some pilot had made when he got off course and hit the first tower. It took a minute for me to grasp the reality that I was actually seeing the second plane hit the tower. It took a few more moments for me to realize the meaning of "terror attack". While on the phone with her, we experienced the magnitude of that horror. She very calmly told me to keep her baby at my home, all airports were being secured and closed and the buildings were being evacuated. All employees were going home.
I held that baby close to my chest as tears ran freely down my cheeks. What was going on? What was going to happen now? What about all those people...
What were we going to do? What was my country going to do? What if...what if...
Today I held that little girl close to my chest and gave her an extra long hug. She has no idea of that day and how our lives were changed forever.
One day I'll tell her about 9-11-01. I hope she will understand that a lot of brave people lost their lives so others could live. I hope she will learn to love the country that is willing to keep freedom alive and well so other little girls can grow up unafraid.
I wish I could skip through a door with brown hair bouncing and green eyes dancing and not have a care in the world. Instead, I will do my part to see that this little girl and others like her will continue to be able to do just that.
I will vote. I will support my country. I will salute the flag. I will sing (slightly off key) The Star Spangled Banner. I will continue to be proud to be an American.
Forget 9-11-01? God help us to never forget.
Mz Scarlett...Logan Elizabeth's Grammy
(and your grandgirl is adorable! 
)