911 and the tree of life...

I am feeling shaky today. Like everyone who is old enough to remember the events of 911, I am reflecting. I was teaching art that day, and it wasn't until a friend brought her classroom of students to my door at 11:05 that I heard of the devastating news of the two planes, the twin towers, and the Pentagon. A friend of Jan's, someone as close as a brother, should have been in the are a of the Pentagon that morning, but somehow he was spared, but we didn't know that then. We prayed.

The photo above is part of a 2011 installation called "The Tree of Life Reclaimed." In scripture, the tree of life is said to span the river of life and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Some say the metaphor of the leaves is related to medicinal teas. I wonder if they represent a place to gather for shelter. 

The news anchor at the Pentagon this morning noting how  much the crepe myrtle trees have grown since they were installed as part of the memorial to the souls who lost their lives fourteen years ago. "It was a bright blue beautiful day, just like today," she recollects, and then remarks on the trees as a measure of fleetting time.

I am out of touch with the friend who broke the news of the 911 attacks to me, but I still have her email so I jotted her a note, :

"Then we prayed for your friend Cindy's husband because he worked in the area of the Pentagon that was hit. The next day, you came to school in mismatched shoes. Our earth shook. They mention that the crepe myrtles at the Pentagon have grown so much since they were planted as part of the memorial, and it gave me new insight to the leaves of the tree of life being for the healing of the nations. Growing shade, like healing , takes time."