Remebering 9/11

As it's the 9th Anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, I've been thinking about the effect it has had on our world.

There are no words to describe what kind of event that was.  "Tragedy" "Horror" "Terrible" None of these words are able to convey the enormity of the event.  And, that's a good thing.  If we had the words to talk about it, we'd be living in a world where it was commonplace.  For anyone who's interested in the academics of how we discuss extraordinary events, Gail Jefferson's article, At First I Thought: A Normalising Device for Extraordinary Events, is a fascinating read.  And, even though it's an academic article, it's not an esoteric read.  The language is very down to earth and readable.

Tragic as that day was, there was some good that came out of it.  The individual stories of heroism, strength and fortitude.  The stories of those who sacrificed themselves on the 4th plane, refusing to be the tool of those who would do evil.  The stories of those who risked everything to help as many people escape the towers, many of whom did not make it themselves.  And, of course, the marvelous miracles of those who helped and did escape.  To you, whether you've dedicated your lives to helping others as emergency response personnel, or whether you're the average joe who stepped up on that anything-but-average day, I thank you.  I thank you for not being human - for being super-human and doing what needed to be done.  Some of those acts were extraordinarily dangerous.  Others were quiet.  All were heroic.

Lost In Transit

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate packing?  If it weren't for the expense involved in replacing everything, I'd just leave it all behind.  *sigh*  Sadly, can't do that.  So.... I'm packing.

Disappearing off for a bit.  Got to run to the States.  Back on the 13th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I truly love Thanksgiving. Partly it's the food. Who wouldn't enjoy a holiday where the main component is eating?!? Other holidays include food (4th of July Picnics, Easter Dinner, Christmas Dinner . . . ) but Thanksgiving is food. However, as much fun as eating all that luscious bounty is, I love more than just that. I actually enjoy the whole week. You start the preparations ages before hand.

Here in England I get to cheat a bit. Since there's no competition for the food at the supermarket, I can do my shop on the Wednesday, which means everything's nice and fresh. (I always try and get a fresh turkey from the Butcher, rather than a frozen one, so I don't have to worry about defrosting. But even on a year when I get it frozen, that's still the only thing I get ahead of time. (*Edit* This year's was horrible! There were simply no juices to use to baste. Not impressed. It wasn't dry, but it wasn't up to my usual standards, either.) In any case, the preparations start at least the day before.

Making the Desserts. This year I went with apple pie and brownies with this yummy (and very easy) moose. It's been ages since I made pie, though, so I was a bit worried about the crust. Had a bit of left overs, which I made into a quiche for dinner. Wow. I needn't have worried. Flaky, buttery and soft. :-)

Oh the lovely smells! One of the best bits about Thanksgiving is all the delightful smells. Many times I enjoy that part more than actually eating anything. Oh so yummy. And none of the drawbacks to actually eating it!

Family. I've been known to be terribly homesick for the whole week of Thanksgiving. It's one of the days that I most wish I were with them. Probably mostly because I know they're all together laughing and having fun without me! I've never liked being out of the loop. Fortunately, we've come up with a few creative solutions. The best bit is Clever Endeavour. That's a board game we've had since I was a teenager. Clues are read out and you have to figure out what the object is. You get more points for getting it sooner, but if you guess wrong, you lose points. Points move you forward (or backwards!) along the board. But the game is really all audible, not visible or activity based. So, I can guess, too! So, we always play that or Double Talk (similar idea, but based on Puns). It's great fun, and one of my favourite traditions.

Friends. Since I can't be with my family, I choose to be with my friends. I invite people I love to come share my Thanksgiving Dinner. I choose different people every year (although there have been a few overlaps!) so that as many people as possible get to find out what Thanksgiving means. This year I had 6 guests, only 2 of whom were Americans.

That's what I love about Thanksgiving (apart from eating the food, which obviously is part of the list). So wonderful. A day dedicated to feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Love it!

Remember

I'm not sure what it is about November that sparks the British Memory. You've got 'Remember Remember the 5th of November', and then, the next week you've got Remembrance Sunday, followed, of course, by Armistice Day on the 11th of November (the end of WWI was officially declared and the peace treaty signed in the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). In any case, today's Remembrance Sunday, roughly equivalent to the American Memorial Day.

During the end of October and up through the 11th of November, Britain is awash with poppies. The 'Poppy Appeal' raises money for the families of service men/women who've died in the line of duty. It was lovely to see so many poppies at church today.

So, to you who serve: Thank you. You put your lives on the line. You protect us. You put everyone in your country over your own needs. That's an incredible act of love. I pray for your continued safety every day.

To you who send your husbands/wives and sons/daughters off: Thank you. You parents have taught your children selflessness. Something that's in an increasingly short supply. You spouses give these men/women the support they need at home to be able to do these dangerous jobs. You're equally deserving of our gratitude. You are also in my prayers.

To you who've lost friends and loved ones: Thank you. I grieve for your loss, but I celebrate the cause. They have not sacrificed for nothing.

As most of you know, I'm a religious person. I very firmly believe that those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf are taken into God's arms.

"Greater love hat no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13.

Independence Day

It's the 4th of July. The anniversary of the day that the British Colonies in the Southern half of North America declared their independence and became the United States of America. Now, I live in England and the two most common assumptions for why I live here are that either: 1) I'm and Anglophile and therefore love all things English, or 2) I dislike the United States. In fact, neither of these things are true. I live in England because that's where I can do my PhD in Conversation Analysis under the banner of Linguistics (as opposed to Sociology). Yes, I quite like England, because I've made very good friends here. But has nothing to do with their nationality. I love the United States. I love my heritage. I love that I am an American! To me it's the best country in the world. Is it perfect? No. But it's mine. I always joke that I love being from America, but in order to be from America, I have to be somewhere else. In honesty, though, I don't particularly mind where I live. But I'm so glad I was born American. So, Happy 4th of July. Happy Independence Day. Happy Anniversary of the Day We Kicked Britain Out of Our Country. God Bless the USA.

The Great Drive -- Or, The Long Way Home (Pt 4)

Sorry I haven't finished this story. I didn't have much by way of Internet connection in South Haven. Anyway, picking up from where I left off, on the 13th, I got up, and felt pretty good. Not 100%, of course, but well enough that I just couldn't see skipping the appointment after having worked so hard to get there. So I went. I had this wonderful stylist, Emma. She said that my hair is actually in pretty good shape, just needed a trim, so that's good news. Then she went through all the techniques the Curly Hair Institute uses to get the most out of your curls. I had been using many of them, but not all. And the ones I didn't know made quite a difference. She carefully taught me all the techniques, but managed to keep the results hidden til the style was totally complete. When she finally turned me around, I was so surprised. I knew I have really curly hair. But I did not realise it was that curly! It looked absolutely amazing. Now all I have to do is work out how to do the techniques on myself!
We ended up driving all the way home after the appointment. We'd talked about going part way and staying the night. But we got half way, and it was still pretty early, and we decided that it was just as easy to drive the rest of the way. When we got to the customs checkpoint to re-enter the US, the customs officer asked, 'What was the purpose of your visit?' and I said, 'To get a haircut.' He stops, looks at me and says, 'Really?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Well, that's a first!' He then asked why, so I explained about the Institute, and he's like, you know, I've never thought about that. Anyway, I thought it was totally worth the pain and trouble and sticking it out through the cold. What do you think?

The rest of my time in Michigan was pretty quiet. On the 14th I got up and kind of puttered around. I hardly did anything, just lunch with Grandma, then down for a nap. I was still feeling the cold, and hadn't slept well the night before, so I was just as happy to keep things quiet. We did drive over to Grandma's doctor. He verified that it was a virus, and I just had to hang in there til it passed. But I felt quite a lot better by that point anyway. It was Aunt Peggy's birthday that day, so Grandma and I went to dinner with her and Uncle Mark, my cousin Meghan and her husband Scott and their little girl, Harley. On the 15th my routine was pretty much the same (minus the doctor's visit): lazy getting up, late lunch, lovely nap in the afternoon. I'd still been having trouble sleeping because of the cold, though. So, Sunday (16th) I'd planned on going into church, but I'd finally really gotten to sleep that night, and I didn't wake up til 11.00. Grandma was feeling a bit stiff and sore and tired, so she was just as happy to take things slow again, and she knew I hadn't been sleeping well, so she didn't want to wake me up. It was just a really quite day. We did have dinner with the above mentioned people again.

The 17th I was finally starting to really feel normal again. I spent some time over at Aunt Peggy's helping her with some computer things, and chatting. Then Grandma and I met up with Lori, a friend from church, for lunch. That was fun. It was good to see Lori, and catch up with what's going on with her. Then I spent the afternoon down on the beach. Now, I know that nowhere is perfect, but there was some real charm to growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan. I never lived within sight of the lake, there were always trees and houses between us and the shore, but I always lived within sound of the waves. That was something I really enjoyed. The sun was pretty warm, but there was a breeze, so it was still cool. The sand was just perfectly warm. As I was down there the Tall Ship, Friendships Goodwill, sailed by. It fought in the war of 1812 along the Great Lakes. It's a beautiful ship. Grandma and I had been talking about going to Red Lobster the whole time we'd been driving North, and had never made it. So we finally decided to go have lobster. Well . . . she had lobster. I had crab. It's my favourite. She did share a claw with me, though. So I had a bit of both. It was divine.


The 18th I had a breakfast date with a friend in Paw Paw. Beth and I had become friends through the scrapbooking forum we're members of when people started talking about where everyone was from. She said SW Michigan, so I obviously had to ask where, because that's where South Haven is. So we'd been keeping in contact over the past 8 or so months, and when I found out I'd be going through Michigan on my way home, we made plans to meet. It was absolutely lovely to finally meet her. And she's ever bit as lovely and nice as she sounded in her emails. Then, I drove on into Kalamazoo (yes, there really is a Kalamazoo!) and had lunch with a friend, Annette, from High School.... sort of. We'd been friends during our High School years, but not because of school. We were in the same Stake (church regional area) so we met at Stake activities. It was great to reconnect with her. After lunch I went back to Grandma's and spent an hour on the beach again, then . . . had a nap. Then she and I went to Mark and Peggy's for dinner. They made pork loin on the grill, which was marvelous. It was a lovely way to end my stay.

You Know You've Been In England Too Long If . . .

This is my personal 'You know you've been in England too long, if . . .' list.

• You get in the car to drive, and look up only to realise you've got in the passenger seat. (Yep, did that Saturday)
• You can't figure out why that guy making a left hand turn is in the wrong lane . . . then realise that it's you in the wrong lane!
• You twig to anything.
• You hoover the carpet.
• You queue.

I'm sure there are loads of others, but I don't always notice them. In fact, I don't usually notice them! Anyway, it has been kind of a cultur shock living in the USA again.