Before I begin my tribute, I wanted to explain what Project 2,996 is for those of you who’ve never heard of it.

Project 2,996 in an internet memorial project honoring the victims of September 11th. It began in 2006, with over 3,000 bloggers signing up to honor one victim. Now in it’s third year, Project 2,996 is still going strong and remembering those who died and those who heroically gave their lives.

This year, I was assigned the name of John A. Cooper, an accountant manager at SunGard Trading Systems/BRASS. After a little research I found that Mr. Cooper was just 40 years old when he died on 9/11 in the World Trade Center attacks. He grew up in Brooklyn, excelled in sports, and called Bayonne, NJ home at the time of his death. He was a graduate of Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and was described by co-workers and friends as someone who always had a big smile on his face when you saw him and someone with an amazing sense of humor who never had an unkind word for anyone he met.

School friend Mike Anagnostakis reiterated John’s kind and good nature and says that “he could not help but to bring happiness into peoples lives that he touched.”

Mike also had this to say about John:

Many a spring day, we would forsake the bus ride home from school, in favor of an hours walk home – talking all the way about sports, as young boys would do. I always thought he would become a baseball star – but, you know, he was always a star, a star in life!!

John was also known as a big hockey fan. He held season tickets at Madison Square Garden for the NY Rangers, and it was at one of these games in the early 80’s where he took Cathy DeCicco on their very first date. It was in the rowdiest section of the Garden where Cathy became a fan of hockey herself and the two fell in love. They married in 1993 and had two sons: Jefferey and Adam. Adam, the youngest was just three months old when his father was killed.

On the morning of September 11th, he was visiting a friend at Sandler O’Neill on the 104th floor of One WTC. He, along with so many innocent people, were killed in the worst acts of terrorism this country has ever seen, and hopefully ever will.

Eight years on and it’s still hard to fathom the pure hatred behind the attacks. How can one person or a group of individuals have so much evil in their hearts to kill so many innocent people? To think of all the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and children and grandparents and grandchildren and best friends and husbands and wives who died for what? What did they die for? Hate and intolerance and evil.

It breaks my heart…it literally shatters it into a million tiny pieces when I think of all the people who died for nothing. Nothing was gained from these attacks. Thousands more have died as a direct result of 9/11. There are those who were lucky enough to survive the WTC attacks, especially our brave firefighters, police officers, and military, have died because of illnesses attributed to Ground Zero. And those still alive today still bare the scars, both physically and mentally.

Our brave men and women have left their families and have given their lives to defend us overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. My own brave nephew was one of those who felt compelled to do his duty to his country after 9/11. He joined the Marines, leaving behind his wife and young children at home in Illinois. He was killed in May of 2004 Iraq. This is just one of the ripple effects of 9/11. We’re all being affected by what happened eight years ago, directly and indirectly.

And at the end of the day, it all amounts to nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing was gained, but so many precious things were lost. Our loved ones. Our faith in humanity. Our ability to trust others. All of these have been fractured by people who were martyrs for nothing.

But you know something? In all of that nothing, it’s important to remember the very important something from 9/11. That something is the bond we all felt as Americans in the days and weeks and months following the attacks. When we looked upon our neighbors and friends and complete strangers and said, “I love you, my friend. Be safe.” When we took a moment to reflect on what was really important in our lives – our loved ones and those we held most dear. When we stopped looking at people as “them” or “the other side” and accepted everyone as “us”. Democrats and Republicans didn’t exist. We were all just Americans, holding on to each other and trying to make sense of the world around us and feeling like if we just loved each other enough and respected each other enough, we could make it through anything.

And we did. And we’ll continue to if we never forget 9/11 and all the people like John Cooper who were once just like us. Living their lives, loving their families, and trying to live the American dream. We can’t forget these people. We can’t forget their names. We can’t forget their faces. We owe it to them to continue paying tribute. We owe it to their families. And we owe it to ourselves. Because if we forget for even just one second what it was like to be united, we’ve lost the battle for nothing. And in that, we lose ourselves.

So please, let’s all take a second to just love one another today. And to make an effort to love each other EVERY day and to start respecting each other. We need to start looking past the political lines that separate us and working towards a common goal of making this country the best it can be. We need to stop, before we degrade each other in disagreement, and work our differences out like rational human beings. And love…the world is begging for more love. It’s starving for it. Can’t we show more of it? Because in the end, we’re all we’ve got, and that truly is something.

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9-11 Victim Memorial: John A Cooper
Voices of September 11th: John A. Cooper, Jr
Hudson Reporter: Bayonne Remembers: Candlelight Ceremony Marks Fourth Anniversary of 9/11
American Memorials: John A. Cooper

If you came here looking for my tribute, you’ll have to wait a few more hours. Still working on it. In the meantime, head over here and read who others are blogging about:

http://project2996.wordpress.com/

Ah, the Summer of 09. Which one word will define it? What one event will it be remembered for?

Will it be the crazy town hall meetings and the pompous attitudes of our ELECTED officials and the MSM towards those voicing their 1st Amendment rights? Maybe. I did learn that WWII vets and little Aunt Betty with her walking stick and fresh baked apple pie were dangerous thugs. They were also un-American brown shirts and the REAL enemies of the state. Thanks Nancy Pelosi…you dick. I also learned that dissent is only patriotic when Liberals do it, that it was only acceptable between years 2000-2008 for people to carry swastikas and paint Hitler mustaches on pictures of our President, and that when you run out of talking points you throw around the words “racist” and you just bite off the fingers of those you don’t agree with. Sweet. God bless America.

Just a note: it’s NEVER acceptable to carry around swastikas and compare the President to Hitler. Also, it’s not racism when people disagree with the President. Stop throwing that old battered card around please. K? Thnx.

Maybe it’ll be the celebrity deaths, like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Sen. Ted Kennedy and DJ AM? I know I’m forgetting someone, but to tell you the truth, I can’t remember everyone that died this summer. Besides, according to the blogs and media, no-one else mattered except for the King of Pop. Poor Farrah. I’ll probably miss you the most.

Maybe it was just the humid, almost unbearable summer heat and crazy summer storms that drove most of us in South Georgia inside.

Oh wait, that was the invasion of Queen Miley on Tybee Island. She’s not my favorite celebrity, but I do have to give her this: she genuinely loved Tybee and Savannah and I never heard a bad word about her or a member of her crew getting into trouble or being divas. She just sort of hung out, ate our good Southern food, and brought throngs of screaming teenage girls and one crazy ass psycho stalker with her. She’s welcome back any time.

As for me, I’ll remember the Summer of ‘09 as one of the best summers of my adult life. We spent time at the pool, we ate watermelon and played in the mud. We chose to stay away from the crowds and camp out near the Savannah Wildlife Refuge to watch the 4th of July fireworks.

My son befriended a llama and was licked by a pony.

I met a really cool Australian who was riding across America on horseback trying to revive the days of John Wayne and the Wild West.

We adopted a kitty that we named “Monkey”. I took my very first dolphin tour – something I’ve been wanting to do for years. We hung out in cemeteries and the Savannah Wildlife Refuge, giving our cameras good exercise and trying NOT to get eaten by alligators.

We lit sparklers and danced around the yard like a bunch of crazy people…and we loved every single second of it, despite being broke as a joke and with not a pot to piss in. It was all about family.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger version)

But now it’s almost Labor Day and the end of summer is officially upon us. As much fun as we had, I can’t say that I’ll miss it too much. I enjoy the Fall weather and I’m ready for cooler temps. Also, my favorite holidays are this time of the year. So I’ll be seein’ ya, summer. It was fun. Until next year…

These are the songs, in no particular order, that got me through the sticky Summer of ‘09. Just click on the little blue arrow next to the song and enjoy.

P.S. What was your favorite memory of the summer?

My boss sent me this a few minutes ago and it was too good not to share.

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This is hilarious – no wonder some people were offended! This is the message that the Maroochydore High School Queensland , staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine . This is the actual answering machine message for the school. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades – even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

The outgoing message:

Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In
order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen
to all the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent – Press 1
To make excuses for why your child did not do his work – Press 2
To complain about what we do – Press 3
To swear at staff members – Press 4
To ask why you didn’t get information that was already enclosed in your
newsletter and several flyers mailed to you – Press 5
If you want us to raise your child – Press 6
If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone – Press 7
To request another teacher, for the third time this year – Press 8
To complain about bus transportation – Press 9
To complain about school lunches – Press 0
If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable
and responsible for his/her own behaviour, class work, homework and that
it’s not the teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort: Hang up and
have a nice day!
If you want this in another language, move to a country that speaks it.

Source: Tim Wade’s Blog

Personally, I think the parents need to get over it and start making their kids go to school. I wish schools here in the States would use the same recording.

I received this information just a few minutes ago and thought it was important enough to share with my readers, especially those of you in Savannah who could make it out to show your respects to this brave young man.

This is an especially sad day, one of our very brave brothers, Capt. Matt Freeman of the United States Marine Corp has died in Afghanistan. His remains will arrive at the National Guard Field in Sav on Wed at 3PM. He will exit the National Guard at 4PM turn right onto Dean Forest Rd and be driven to Route 17 where they will continue on Rt 17 until they take a right on Rte 144 and proceed to the Richmond Hill funeral home.

Capt Freeman will remain there until his services on Saturday. We want to encourage everyone to be along the transport route to honor our brother who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom. Please be there. God Bless!

I did some research and found the following information about Capt. Freeman:

Marine Capt. Matthew C. Freeman: 29, of Richmond Hill, Ga.; assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan; died Aug. 7 while supporting combat operations in Kapisa province, Afghanistan.

Source

I also found this on WTOC:

If you have the time, please stand along the route and pay your respects.

The thick smell of bullshit is hanging in the air over America, so I dug up this video to clear it up a bit.

Today is Open House at my son’s school and the realization that he is starting middle school this year hit me like a ton of bricks last night when I went to bed. It took about one minute for the tears to start when I realized that my little boy wasn’t so little anymore. He wasn’t this cute little baby…my sweet little man…the little boy who plays with Transformers toys and laughs hysterically at the mention of “butts”. He’s 11 years old now and out of elementary school and a whole new world begins for him in three days. And with this new world begins responsibility and acting like a young man. It’s the first giant step he’s going to take out of childhood into the scary realm of “teenager”.

I was, and still am, pretty devastated by all of this. I actually broke down and started sobbing and telling my husband that I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t have it in me to walk him into the middle school this afternoon and show him around his new school. I could actually feel my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces in my chest. Even now, as I type this, I have tears in my eyes and my chest is welling up with sadness and I know any moment now that I’m going to start crying again. When it happens, and believe me it’s going to happen, my son will probably give me his standard “Mom, why are you acting like a lunatic???” look and move on to something else, leaving me to think about the day I brought him home from the hospital, his first step, his first word, his first day of school. Oh my gawd…his first day of school. *and the tears start*

Wouldn’t it be nice to keep our children young for just a little longer? Wouldn’t it be nice to have the power to hit a magical “STOP” button and enjoy what’s left of their childhood for just a little more? I just want my son to stay young for as long as he can and I don’t think it’s fair that he’s growing up so fast that I can barely keep up.

All I see when I look at him right now is this sweet little boy who loves to pick me weeds and call them flowers. A child who has this contagious, amazing laugh that is so innocent and cute. A child who has been taking his Daddy to bed for every single night for 10 years. My little man who is getting so big, but is still small enough to crawl up on my legs, wrap his arms around my neck, and gives me the sweetest sugars on my cheek while he says, “I love you Mommy”.

My heart is breaking. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to make it through today. Call me crazy, call me dramatic, but I think you mothers out there will understand my sorrow. Say a little prayer for me today. I’m going to need it.