Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Recent Events/Remembering 9/11

Well, we're figuring out this whole blog thing and figured it'd be a good time to do it, as there is much about which to keep you all informed.
Brent has started his senior year at BYU and is now interviewing for medical schools all over the country. Last week he interviewed at the U. of Virginia in Charlottesville and absolutely loved it. Yesterday he interviewed in St. Louis and...well, he still loves Virginia! He looks forward to interviewing later this month in Bethesda, Pittsburg, Phoenix and Tucson.
I'm about a month into my first real teaching job at Diamond Fork Jr. High School. I teach six periods of Spanish a day to really wonderful kids. The other teachers are great, the administration is great, and I don't have much of a commute. We've really been blessed. I'm exhausted by the end of each day, and the paperwork is never-ending, but every day's a fiesta!
Today I dedicated some time in class to discussing 9/11 with kids that we're in 2-3 grade when it happened. It was interesting to see how little it meant to them. On this day I've pondered the heroism of those who demonstrated the true American spirit by stepping into the flames to rescue the thousands of innocent civilians that had been victimized that day. We were wounded as a nation, but in commemoration of that day we should remember the strength born out of tragedy and strive to maintain it. That experience was made so real to me when, at BYU-Idaho in the fall of 2002, I performed in the world premiere of "Hole In The Sky," a play written about that day and the experiences of those trapped high in the towers. It put a face on the tragedy for those of us far from the reaches of New York City, and was an experience we shall never forget. I was in Kunming, China playing my guitar on 9/11/01 when the first plane hit. Where were you that day?