Earthquake Weather

There have been many days this past month where the skies have been an almost uninterrupted blue, with temperatures much milder then they normally this time of year.

Of course, this makes me think of the events that occurred five years ago today.

It's odd, how a memory will become imprinted with a particular sense. I can still remember what I was listening to when I had my first fender bender (Sting's "Fortress Around Your Heart"). For years, a certain fragrence would remind me of my first girlfriend. Now, when the temperatures get into the 70s and there are almost no clouds to be seen, I remember the attacks all over again.

I remember the hour of not knowing what had happened to MLW, how the Internet was brought to a standstill. I recall driving home and seeing the smoke rise from miles away. I remember the chaos afterward, the uncertainty, the fear.

I don't have as much fear since then--I don't think I'd be able to function otherwise--but then again I was lucky. I didn't lose anyone. But what I used to think of as beautiful, late summer weather I now associate with death and the end of the world as I knew it.

Perhaps, in that sense, the terrorists did win.