Memories of Sunshine and Shadow

I don't mean to offend the memories of anyone by choosing to not be more patriotic this weekend. I do remember 9/11, and very well. It was the first day of my final semester at Richard Stockton College. It all started out pretty normal. I got up, watched Get Smart on TV Land and Rollie Pollie Ollie on the Disney Channel, had breakfast, and headed across the path over Lake Fred to my first class of the day, American History: 1918-Present.

After class, I headed to the college's library for that day's shift as a receptionist/assistant secretary in the basement Media Center. Since class ended early and I had a little extra time, I went upstairs and chose a book to read. I even remember the book was about silent movie stars.

When I came downstairs, I was met by one of the Media Center's head secretaries. She looked upset and was as white as a sheet. "Their attacking the World Trade Center," she told me in horror.

"What?!" I gasped. "You're kidding!"

She was far from kidding. I went right into the tech crew's room. The tech boys were in charge of the school's channel for event broadcasting and emergency closing warnings. Their eyes were all glued to their TV sets. I saw smoke pouring out of the two World Trade Center buildings and heard the commentators' pure shock.

There was a room set up just off the main lobby/listening/viewing area for any workers who wanted to keep up with the news. I went in there just in time to see the first tower fall. I had to leave eventually to help students, but I was in and out all morning.

When I wasn't watching the news, I was working on things at the receptionist's desk. I tried to read or do my homework, but I couldn't keep my mind on the task at hand. For one thing, I had several friends who lived in New York at the time, and I was worried about them. After I found out about the Pentagon, I was very relieved that my sister Rose, who normally went to college in Washington DC, was taking a semester off due to personal problems.

(Mom later revealed that it was Rose who told her. Apparently, she heard about it on her car radio and called Mom, totally freaked out. Mom and Bill didn't have cable then - she spent the rest of that afternoon at a local restaurant, watching their TV set.)

I was a huge fan of the TV series Remember WENN at that time. I started writing a fanfiction for my WENN "On the Edge of the Precipice" series to try to get my mind off of the news...but the story changed into something quite different and more related to my present worries, "Everything's Fine." It's still up at my WENN fan site.

The school finally closed at 2PM. I was supposed to have gone to my next class at this time. I was at loose ends and had no idea of what to do next. I just walked back to the on-campus apartment I shared with four other girls. Two of those girls were there, the TV showing news while they did homework. I asked them if they knew about the news; they said yes.

I don't remember much else about the afternoon and evening. I know I went for a walk around the lake at one point. It was a lovely day, sunny and bright, and any kids who hadn't gone home were out and about, walking, jogging, or talking to friends.

I spent the evening chatting with friends online at the computer lab. Thank goodness everyone in New York was fine. One woman was upset that her husband couldn't get home because his plane was held up, and a college student had been let out of school early.

The TV was still on when I got back in, and the other girls were all in bed. It was past midnight, but I didn't care. I'd needed to talk to the others. I remember seeing Tom Brokaw at Ground Zero and, for the first time all day, finally breaking down crying.

Today wasn't anywhere near as dramatic. I slept late and worked on more video recording as comfort food. Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation is the second of three films to feature the mid-late 80s Care Bear Family characters. This one introduces True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse, the original Care Bear and Care Bear Cousin, who raise a group of foundling cubs and critters to help the world's children feel better about themselves. While they are able to aid Dawn and John, twins from a summer camp who feel useless and unwanted, they aren't as lucky with their friend Christy. Christy is a feisty young lady who is good at marbles but clumsy at anything else. She encounters an evil entity known as Dark Heart, a nasty spirit who can take on any shape, including human. He gives her the power to be the Camp Champ...for a price.

I didn't realize it as a child, but this is a Care Bears variation on the Faust story. Though there is a happy ending as both Christy and Dark Heart learn the importance of friendship and working towards goals, like the first movie, this is pretty dark for Care Bears. There's still some cutesy stuff with the Cubs in the beginning, but it's offset by the ending with Dark Heart, the fate of the Care Bears, and the group saving Christy. I love it, and did as a kid, but more sensitive young ones may need parents near-by.

Called Mom while the Care Bears were ending. Mom was fine. She had the house to herself. Keefe, Vicki, and Dad went back into Wildwood for the final day of the "Roar to the Shore" motorcycle convention. She was preparing for the first Eagles game of the season.

I went over to Dad's shortly after I finished talking to Mom. To be honest, it wasn't the most thrilling afternoon. Uncle Ken and Dolores were at Uncle Ken's high school reunion. Everyone else was at home or events. It was just me, Dad, and Jodie for the first half of the game. Dad made burgers and hot dogs. Jodie had cheese and crackers, shrimp, cocktail sauce, and olives. Craig brought Khai over around half-time. Jessa and her boyfriend Bobby turned up towards the beginning of the 4th quarter; Uncle Ken and Dolores showed up shortly after that.

We had a rather pleasant interlude where Jodie and I took Khai for a little walk across the street. Khai adores trucks, in all shapes and sizes. A friend of Jodie's owns a truck, and he allowed Jodie to put Khai in the bed. He was in absolute heaven. He was such a happy boy.

The Eagles were pretty happy, too. Despite a fairly poorly-played first half, they dominated the St. Louis Rams and went on to win 31-14. I liked the touching opening, where most of the players and coaches unfurled a huge flag across the stadium in honor of 9/11 while "God Bless America" was performed in the background.

Dad switched back and forth between the Eagles and the Phillies game for most of the afternoon. The Phils didn't do as well. They lost 3-2 to the Milwaulkee Brewers.

Headed straight home after the game. I spent the rest of the evening dubbing more cartoons and movies. I had completely forgotten that ABC ran three classic Disney shorts with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too when they showed it as part of The Disney Sunday Movie. I already have "Bee On Guard" in the Walt Disney Treasures Chronological Donald, Vol.4 set, but I didn't have "Pluto and the Gopher" (Pluto chases a gopher who makes a meal of Minnie's garden) or "In the Bag" (Humphery the Bear ends up having to clean up the park in order to get his dinner).

There were two more items on that tape I wanted. The Dancing Princesses was one of our favorite episodes of Fairy Tale Theatre when we were little. Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown takes Chuck, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock to France on a student exchange program, where they meet a little girl named Violette whose uncle definitely does not like having strangers at his home! Can the Peanuts solve the mystery of Violette, her past with Chuck's family, and the Chateau Mal Voison?

This is an unusually dark outing for the Peanuts. It's also one of the rare times we hear and see real adults (it would be a little weird for the kids to travel through Europe and not have at least some adult intervention). The last Peanuts movie is one of two later ones currently not on DVD. Our copy came off of cable in 1987. It's in terrible shape - we recorded it during a thunderstorm and accidentally cut off the first 10 minutes or so, not to mention the video's been around for over 20 years - but viewable.

The final movie I dubbed as I ate my beef and summer vegetable stew for dinner was The Gnomes' Great Adventure. This was likely meant to be an introduction to the show The World of David the Gnome on Nickelodeon in the mid-late 80s. David the Gnome and his devoted friend Swift the Fox go on a series of adventures to rescue gold stolen by trolls. I don't know if this one was on video, much less DVD, so this is probably the last place I'll ever see it.

And the reason this is incredibly late is we've had a wild series of thunderstorms this evening - lightning, pouring rain, thunder that sounded like a bear growling in the woods - that's caused my Internet to go down briefly at least two or three times.