~~OKLAHOMA CITY MEMORIAL ~~ WE ARE STILL HEALING

I had planned on making a different Post today...something lighthearted and fun. But to be honest with you...I just couldn't. Not today.

I live just outside of Oklahoma City and although I am not a native of my state it long ago became a place I love to call "home". We moved here when my daughter was only 6 months old and her big brother just a little over three. Seemed like a wonderful place to raise a family and indeed that proved to be true.

I first came to Oklahoma to attend college in 1976. It is here I met my hubbs of over 30 years. It is in this state I've lovingly watched my children grow up, attend school, go to college, fall in love and then marry. It is the birth-state of my only grandchild and the only state in which I've ever owned property. My father and mother live here and so does my youngest sister and her family... And, unless God directs us elsewhere, it will be in Oklahoma that I will grow old and live out the remainder of my life.

On April 19th, 1995 Oklahoma City was put on the map in a different way. Crazy lunatics decided to slaughter 168 innocent men, women and children when they bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building, forever changing the lives of hundreds of people and those they love. It was a dark day in my State's history and a day I remember well.

DESTROYED MURRAH BUILDING

I was running late getting my second grader to school the morning the blast went off. I only heard a faint, muffled sound in the distance as I live 15 miles from downtown OKCity. Thinking nothing of it, I said my good-byes to my baby girl and drove home. Seconds after walking in the door my phone began to ring with my hubbs on the other end. He was in a panic...he was working downtown in a building not far from the bomb site and wanted to relay to me only two things...SOMETHING caused a HUGE explosion in a building a few blocks from him and that he was safe. He watched as windows were blown out all around him and the sky grew dusty and dark... I flipped on my TV and to my horror I watched as a part of our City looked like a war zone.

The events of that day are seared in my memory forever. The media coverage was non-stop. The rescue of the few survivors had us riveted to our television sets. The day brought complete devastation and changed my beloved State in more ways than one...

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the Bombing. More than 300 people gathered this morning at the Oklahoma City Memorial where the Murrah Building once stood. It is ground that many consider to be sacred...it is indeed a sad place, but it's a very beautiful place as well! The blast hurt and scared many of our people, but it failed at destroying our collective faith...

If you ever get a chance to visit Oklahoma City I encourage you to take time to view the Memorial Site. It includes chairs symbolizing the victims. The chairs are on a grassy field overlooking a reflecting pool flanked by bronze gates, one marked 9:01 and the other marked 9:03 a.m., framing the exact 9:02 a.m. time of the explosion.

EMPTY CHAIRS REPRESENT THE LOST

MEMORIAL SITE...OUR FLAG

I visit the site and I visit often. It is a great reminder of what can happen when people allow hate to overtake their hearts... It's an ever greater example of what happens when people choose to love...

Simply put, it's the LOVE that heals.

Blessings to you as you remember that despite evidence of evil, good always wins...Rebecca