Today in history

16 years ago today, I was sitting in the office of AJHS waiting on my mom to pick me up from school. I had a small modeling gig in OKC and was excited to be on my way. Mom was running late. The phone rang and the secretary answered the phone. She let out a little cry and tears starting running down her cheeks. She got up called to Mr. Smith and Mr. Staggs to come into the office. They came running and she turned the tv on. There on all the channels were pictures of the OKC bombing. They made an announcement over the PA for all the teachers to turn their classroom tvs on so that we could watch. OKC was a little over an hour away. How could this happen in OKC? What had happened? What about all those people? My first thought was not about all those other people but my Uncle Don. I knew that he had to be there. My uncle is a firefighter in Mid West City. Not too far from the Murrah Building. On his off days he often worked with an EMT crew. I knew that he had to be there. I sat there is stunned silence as chaos erupted around me. The images on tv did not seem real. I mean how could this really happen in OK? This only happened over seas right? I was so young that I could not think of any other time that anything like this had happened on US soil. How could anyone have so much hate in their heart that they would do something like that? And McVey was an American just like me. I could not and still do not understand how someone could do that. The image that has always haunted me from that day is the picture of the firefighter carrying out the youngest victim. A little girl that was 2 years old. There was a day care in the building and all of the kids were killed.
I know that my uncle worked many days at the site. I know that there were many more men and women that did the same. All of them seeing things and doing things that they never imagined themselves having to do. Calling upon God and their training to lead them in the right direction and give them strength. I remember that my uncle had to take off of work for a while after the bombing to kind of decompress and try to get past everything that he had seen. I think that most of those workers did. I am so proud of my uncle who is still a fire fighter. Risking his life every day so that he can help someone else. It is not an easy job and it takes a special person to be able to do that. Uncle Don is a Godly man and someone who is willing to do anything for anyone. I am so proud to be able to call him my uncle.
This was the first time that I had seen suffering like this. As I grew older there were the May 5 tornadoes that ravished parts of OK, all of the school shootings, 9-11, the beginning of the war, Katrina and so on. But the Murrah building was such an eye opening experience for me. I am so proud to be an Oklahoman and even more proud to be an American. As soon as I was old enough, I became trained as a first responder and began working with the Red Cross so that like my uncle, I could help make a difference. I am proud to say that TJ and I have many friends and family that serve in the military in different branches and different ways, we have friends and family that are police and firefighters. Even though we do not have jobs now that enable us to directly serve people, we do try and make a point to serve when we can. We hope to pass this down to our son. we would LOVE for him to serve in the military or choose a career of service if that is what he wants to do.
Today I pray for all the service men and women out there who do the jobs that noone else wants to do. From the bottom of my heart I thank you. Not just you but also your families. There is so much that the family goes through as well. I ask that God continue to have great men and women that have the heart of selfless service to others. Also let us remember the lives that have been lost in so many senseless acts of cowards.