We Remember

I never post on weekends anymore, but this is just different.

A year ago on this day, hubby and I were in the Del Taco drive thru picking up some dinner. It was around 5pm. My phone rang... my sister from another mister Ro was calling. I was going to let her get to voicemail, but hubby encouraged me to pick up. Sometimes when Ro and I chat... we can chat foreverrrr.

Once I said hello in my man voice, I knew something was wrong. I figured maybe they got into a fight or an argument.

That awkward silent pause before she told me "Oh Yeni, Iz is gone." In that time, my mind blanked and I asked her what did she mean.. She said "Yeni, Iz died." I think I might of laughed or thought it was a joke... Horrible joke really. I felt completely numb. My hands were shaking and I had to hand the phone to hubby. We got our food and the drive home felt incredibly long. We didn't speak about it. We just ate our fries and thought to ourselves.



Iz, Ro and us. We're close. Hubby met Iz at EOD school. Ro and I? We just clicked. We're the Nuanedkins! And we'll always be.

It has been an incredibly long and hard year. For all of us. I posted about Iz here last year. A couple weekends ago, they held the yearly EOD memorial/ball. It is one of the biggest EOD events. Tickets sell out like a Justin Beiber concert! We are not able to attend this year... for obvious reasons. One day though. One day we hope to head out to New Mexico to see you Iz. Maybe this fall.

We love you Iz and we miss you deeply.

To all our fallen EOD techs who made the ultimate sacrifice, We Remember.

We Remember

(image via google)

I've been sitting here for the last 10 minutes unsure how I want to write this post. I remember 11 years ago, I graduated from high school just 2 months before and a week before I had turned 18. I remember I was home alone, didn't have class that day, chatting online when my friend told me to go watch the news. I'm pretty sure I sat in front of the TV absolutely dumbfounded at what was happening right in front of me. I remember talking to a friend who worked in the city and he was telling me about the smoke and the chaos. I was still young and so confused and I don't think I really grasped what was really happening to our world.

This is taken from our old unit's Facebook page and I couldn't of said it better:

As we go through our day today, make sure and take a moment to reflect back on that horrible tragedy that changed our lives 11 years ago today. Let us never forget the events of that day and how it made us feel. Let us never forget the many innocent lives that were lost that day or the Heroes who tried to save them. Let us never forget that this day 11 years ago is the reason our Soldiers are deployed today; fighting for our freedom and the assurance that this type of tragedy may never happen to us again. Today, and everyday, We Remember!