Pardon My Interruption: Craig's Thoughts About This And That
We recently spent some time in the Carolinas, which are absolutely beautiful in the fall. Our trip started in Charleston; the weather was perfect, the beach was clean, and we had a great time.
The Crew.
Zach had a blast! This was his first time at the beach.
Grace was creative and reflective.
Colleen, radiant and beautiful as always.
Colleen and Craig at the top of the World Trade Center in 1999.
Today, many people are marking 9-11 by asking others where they were when the planes struck the Twin Towers.
Where were we?
Colleen and I I had just picked up an Israeli diplomat’s son at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem and were driving to a baseball game at Gezer, when he received the news feed via a pager that each diplomat’s family members carry. During the game, the other various events of 9-11 rolled out. Although we were getting a news feed, the story was so bizarre that we couldn’t understand what was going on.
We returned to Jerusalem after the game and sat and watched the repeated video replays with a former NYC taxi driver (who was crying his eyes out). Like everyone else, we were stunned and simply couldn’t believe what we saw on the television screen.
On August 26, we had walked with the Israeli baseball team near the Twin Towers as we went to catch the Staten Island Ferry to see a Staten Island Yankee game.
After things were somewhat sorted out and flights were resumed at Newark Airport, Colleen and I were on one of the first international flights to arrive at Newark on the morning they re-opened. In fact, when we moved from international to domestic and had to go back through security, the gates were not yet open. We were among the first in line waiting to get through the security checkpoint, which was an absolute train wreck. We were shocked that the security agents, in spite of a lengthy shutdown, had no idea what they were doing. And it appears that not much has changed in these 13 years. Of course, our opinions have been shaped by many trips through Ben Gurion Airport.
Just received this txt from Colleen:
Z’s latest quote: “I’m perfect.”
That made me smile because he is perfect . . . for us. He’s the child God gave us to love and care for and teach the ways of the Lord. He’s also the child God gave us to teach us more about Him.
Zach is a full-energy boy and keeps us on our toes, and we love him.
In the picture at the left, he’s doing his best Popeye face after he danced his way through our Scrabble board, which jumbled all the letters and frustrated all the players.
The Titan roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas
My daughter wrote the following story for her reading class.
Today is April 15, 1865. My name is Elizabeth Charles. I live in Boston, Massachusetts. It has only been 3 days since the Civil War ended.
While I was reading in my library, I got a telegram from my Aunt. My Aunt Sara lives in Washington D.C. She is so lucky, but this telegram wasn’t of joyous praise to the end of the war. It was actually of pain and sadness. The telegram said, “The President is dead!”
I was so shocked I could barely stand. I quickly went to my neighbors and asked if they had heard the shocking news. They were so shocked the wife passed out. For days we wept and wore black. I asked myself, “Who could do such a thing?”
Then it hit me . . . a Southerner!