With all the remembering, it’s easy to forget
Seven years after the shit hit the fan, I’m still sifting through the “Never Forget” bulletins. It’s occurred to me that I may never truly wrap my mind around what happened to the victims of 9/11 and their families. My heart goes out to them, and to another group deeply affected by that darkest day in our nation’s history, those who have perhaps been most forgotten, who’s sacrifice may seem trivial, but who have lost something nonetheless.
I’m talking about people whose birthdays are on September 11. That just has to suck.
Imagine it’s September 11, 2001. You’re a young man, just turning 21. About 11 a.m. the phone rings.
“Oh, hi Mom… Yeah, I see it on TV right now. I’ve been watching it all morning… They canceled classes today so, I mean, at least there’s something. For the first time ever I haven’t been stuck in school on my…. What’s that? Yeah, I agree. Terrible, absolutely horrific. Buzz Kill City. I think I might have to turn this off, maybe take a nap, get my mind off things, you know, before tonight… Yeah, it does make me think our time here is short. That’s why, you know, carpe diem — gotta live it up while you can, especially when you turn… What? Yes, mom, I love you, too…. Is there anything else you want to say?…. Oh, dad wants to talk to me. OK….
“Hi Dad… Yeah, I saw that. Terrible, absolutely horrif– Yes. Yes… I couldn’t agree with you more. This truly is a day to remember. What could possibly be more memorable than these grisly events unfolding before our eyes on television, these ghastly occurrences involving people we’ve never met in a city we’ve never been to?… Yes, if memory serves, Cousin Doris, whom I’ve met once, does live in New York, but I think she’s just outside Ithaca, more upstate, not so much downtown Manhattan where this horrendous catastrophe is occurring on this very day of September 11… Oh? Well, yeah, if you want to call and check on Cousin Doris, you should go ahead and do that. Thanks for calling.”
You put the phone down and begin to process, perhaps for the first time in your life, that your birthday is now and forever just another day. In light of the day’s news, even your parents can forge– Wait, the phone’s ringing!
“Hello? Oh, hi Dad!.. Why are you sorry?… What did you forget to say?… Oh. Yeah, I love you, too. No, it’s not weird, it’s just… No, don’t worry that you don’t say it enough. You don’t have to tell me. I know… OK, bye.”
Man, fuck Mom and Dad! It’s not like you’re a little kid anymore. You don’t need cakes and clowns and shit. You’re a man. You’re going out for copious amounts of alcohol tonight with your buddies. As a Virgo, you were always the youngest kid in your class and you’re the last of your social circle to enjoy this rite of passage into adulthood. Your friends know what day it is. They won’t let you down. The phone rings again.
“Hello?”
“Happy birthday, dude.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Are you seeing this shit on TV?”
“Yeah, it’s terrible. Absolutely horrific.”
“Yeah, so uh… You still wanna go out tonight?”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, ’cause me and Dave were thinking, there probably won’t be that many girls out, so maybe we should, like, reschedule and stuff.”
“Reschedule? No way! I requested tomorrow off from work, and I had to do that two months ago. We’re going out!”
And several hours later, you’re at a bar with your friends. You’ve got the whole place to yourself except for that old guy in the corner who’s working a crossword puzzle. You knew you’d be drinking heavily, but just to get everyone to loosen up and smile, you had to plow through three or four Jager-bombs first. And you felt a little awkward saying “bomb” to the bartender. Dude was right, not a girl in the place, but who cares? You’re with your buddies and you’re finally having a good time. You guys are laughing and carrying on and getting a little loud. The old guy looks up from his crossword puzzle.
“Why don’t you show some respect? Assholes!”
Flash forward to two days ago. You’re sick of the dark spectre of terrorism overshadowing your day. And you’re sick of feeling guilty about being sick of it. You tell your buddy this. He’s not sympathetic.
“Dude, not everything is about you!”
“No, not everything is about me, but I used to have one day! One fucking day a year that was mine and those fucking assholes had to go and hijack some planes and turn this country upside down on my fucking day! And I’m never going to get my fucking day back, because every year when my day rolls around everyone’s all bummed out and shit! My day is everyone else’s day!”
“I know what you’re going through, man. I mean, my birthday is on Veteran’s Day.”
“No! No! Fuck you! No! That is not even the same fucking thing! No one gives a shit about your day! No one even knows what it means! Veteran’s Day — What the fuck is that?”
“It commemorates Germany’s surrender from World War II.”
“World War I, asshole!”
“Oh right, because they signed the armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year.”
“No, not the eleventh year, dipshit. World War I didn’t end until 1918 or something like that. See, you don’t even know what it means and it’s your day! And every year you got the day off school for it!”
“But I don’t get my birthday cards until the 12th, because the post office is closed. Maybe you should consider celebrating on a different day.”
“No, fuck you. And fuck Osama Bin Laden! It’s my day!… And who put these goddamn skyscraper-shaped candles on my cake!”
This blog is in memory of my friend Kent’s birthday, which is actually on September 9th, and I forgot.
Follow
September 11th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Heh I’m lucky my birthday isn’t until September 20th, this year I’m turning 21 and It’s on a Saturday!
Reply
Kristen reply on September 12th, 2008 12:31 am:
September 11th Birthday that sucks the most, Ted Olson, he was the Solicitor General of the US in 2001. His wife delayed a trip out west to wake up with him on his birthday, the 11th. Her last phone call to him was after the hijackers went to cockpit of American Airlines Flight 77. This was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Talk about a crappy birthday.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 8:06 am
One of my best friends’ birthday is Sept. 11, and I know three people who were inside the Pentagon when the plane hit (two got out okay, the third had some pretty bad burns to her shoulder and the side of her head).
So I can see both sides. Got no solution for the birthday people though, except: pick another day. (My own birthday is Dec. 26, which has been cruddy from the start. When I was younger, I’d celebrate it anywhere from Dec. 1 to Jan. 31. I don’t bother anymore: I am what I am.)
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I have you nearly beat on the birthday thing. April 20th, 1989. so not only do i get the pot references, I’m 100 years younger than Hitler to the day.
Reply
Lt Ronald reply on September 16th, 2008 1:56 am:
My son popped out at the same moment Columbine was happening, April 20th 1999 so he get’s the 420 pot references and the “you are the reincarnation of some asshole jock who picked on the Goth dweebs”.
Reply
Schwal reply on September 16th, 2008 9:21 am:
Luckily for me, there is never school on my birthday in Massachusetts, my home state.
Captcha: “M. Injures” that’s rubbing it in a little.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Skippy, you sir are the only person who can make me laugh about 9/11.
Thanks, man. We need it.
Reply
echoesofwonder reply on September 11th, 2008 11:43 pm:
Dude…
Skippy didn’t write that.
Reply
c/SPC Elias Clizbe reply on September 12th, 2008 2:15 am:
Still, he posted it. Well, Mr. Merriman, same to you, buddy.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 9:23 am
And here I was all bummed about my birthday on 13 Oct.
:P
But seriously, I know of a group of people that can sympathize(although alot of them are getting on in years). Imagine for a moment that your birthday falls on Dec 7th and you are growing up in the 1940s. If you don’t know the significance of Dec 7th in American history then you need to go and google it immediately. But this also serves to highlight that while it may suck now and for the next decade or so, eventually those who were born on Sep 11th will eventually get their day back.
Captcha – Bellaire who – Will Smith’s next butchered role :D
Reply
Michiel reply on September 12th, 2008 4:58 am:
I lost my virginity on Dec 7, 1985.
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 8:32 am:
That’s… interesting.. I did not want to know that.
Reply
Michiel reply on September 13th, 2008 5:11 am:
It would be fucking weird and creepy if you did.
Stickfodder reply on September 13th, 2008 9:54 am:
Yeah I may be weird and I may be creepy but I’m not that weird and creepy.
Snyarhedir reply on March 22nd, 2011 1:07 am:
You know what I call October 13th? Knightfall. (I got the idea from Operation: Knightfall, the name that someone on You Tube gave to Order 66 for a Revenge Of The Sith video they made using Jedi Academy mods. It is essentially the same thing, in a way.)
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Similarly, my husband I both graduated from Virginia Tech (different years).
His birthday is April 16.
*sigh* That used to just be a joke about being born on that day for tax reasons.
(captcha Weather south … yes, Virginia is south of Seattle… but Blacksburg does tend to have similar weather)
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Catbunny — that totally sucks, I was on campus that day and actually had the thought “shit! it’s some Hokie’s birthday today.”
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Thanks for reminding me of my sisters birthday! Her is Sept. 10. Her 21st was in 2001. And she had plans to celebrate it on the 11th, until those events. But I gotta call her now and give her my best belated wishes on her now passed anual or her coming into this strange and crazy world.
Reply
Michiel reply on September 12th, 2008 5:00 am:
Wait, her birthday was on the 10th, but she was going to celebrate on the 11th. September 11 was a Tuesday in 2001. Who the hell says, I’m gonna celebrate my 21st birthday a day late on a Tuesday?
Your sister is weird.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Yep, my birthday is today and you totally nailed it. I had pretty much the exact same phone conversations (skipped out out on the Jaeger-bombs). I think I finally got a call from my sister at about 11 pm, saying “Oops!” My husband was hosting a golf tournament that day, with a comedian as entertainment. Tell me that doesn’t suck. Although, he actually made us laugh– I think we all needed it!
On the first anniversary, I just accepted that it was still going to be all about 9/11 and not about me, but by the second anniversary, I said “Fuck it!” It was my birthday for 43 years before it became a day of national mourning. I celebrated. But people still say “Bummer” when I have to give them my birthdate.
Reply
Megan reply on September 12th, 2008 1:28 am:
Happy Birthday Allison!
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
My birthday is June 28th: the same day the Archduke Franz Fernidad was assassinated, causing World War I.
Reply
Snyarhedir reply on March 22nd, 2011 1:12 am:
That was only the spark that lit the fuse to the powder kegs, the M.A.I.N. causes as my teachers have called them: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism. If he were assassinated and those factors were not in place, there would have been no war.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
My mom’s B-Day is today…64. We have done something every year and since 9/11, we still do something. As a matter of fact, on that day is 2001 We watched TV for a bit, saw the second plane hit and left to go to the beach as we had already planned days before. We were in the car driving there when we heard on the radio about the Towers actually falling. The roads were empty, it was a very…interesting drive listening to what everyone else was watching.
(Capcha…”Greeks will”…Greeks will what?)
Reply
Michiel reply on September 12th, 2008 5:03 am:
I like that you were already out spending money on the day of the terrorists attacks, not waiting for the pResident to tell you to go spend money a few days later.
You’re a fine American.
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 8:33 am:
Ahhh consumerism at it’s finest!
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
How’s this for irony…Fallout 3 is being released on Oct. 28th…the first day of the stock market crash of 1929. Post-apocalyptic video game. Same day as stock market crash. creepy.
Captcha= dissenting at. When you target your sedition toward someone directly in your personal company.
Reply
Schwal reply on September 12th, 2008 9:47 am:
NOT…IRONY…(head explodes)
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Yeah, one of my cousins turned 21 on 9/11. She’s younger; I held her when she was a baby. She’s married with a girl of her own now.
Tempus fugit.
reCaptcha: assured same; yes, I remember when her birthday is now.
Out here.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
My virtual nephew turned five that day. Pretty crappy birthday all told.
Reply
September 11th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
The best man at my wedding got married on September 11, 1999.
“Happy anniversary, honey!”
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 12:10 am
My Son has great birthday. 12/31. He loves it and when he turns 21 I don’t even want to think about that.
Oh and I got a great tax break that year.
Captcha: salute white
Reply
Minty reply on September 12th, 2008 1:58 am:
Even though I understand where you’re coming from, I have to go with your on on this one. New Year’s Eve is quite possibly the most awesome birth date to have when you’re under 21.
After that, he’ll be joining the rest of us bitching about their birthdays.
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 2:12 am
All I know is I’m dreading 2012. According to some people, on December 23rd of that year, the world is supposed to end, perhaps signified by a solar system-wide planetary eclipse and/or the planetary poles shifting. Happy birthday to me.
Still, that’s a big fat MAYBE, whereas 9/11 really did happen…
Reply
Kris reply on September 12th, 2008 2:34 am:
I’m with you there buddy, December 23. “Happy Birthday, too bad we’re all going to die. Great cake though”
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 8:51 am:
Actually the 23rd is the alternative date for the completion of the thirteenth b’ak’tun cycle in the Maya calendar which is the basis for the doomsday myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012#December
I personally subscribe to the 21st
Reply
Minty reply on September 12th, 2008 10:34 am:
The fact that it’s still in the running is enough to depress me.
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 11:12 am:
Yeah whatever job I have at the time I’m going to take the 21st off(since its a Friday) and the 24th (since its the following Monday since I’ll need time to recover if nothing happens) to go out and get really really drunk.
That other andrew reply on September 15th, 2008 4:59 am:
Coincidentally or not, all the contracts at the aviation firm I work for expire in early December.
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Hrm… the heck with all of you… at least you all get a birthday every year, unlike myself and one out of every 1461 people in the world, where we have to wait every four years to get a birthday….. :P
Reply
Dave in NC reply on September 12th, 2008 3:42 am:
It’s gotta suck to be a crotchety 18-year old 8-)
Reply
Schwal reply on September 12th, 2008 9:49 am:
he will not be a crotchety 18 year old, he will be a crotchety 72 year old who has had 18 birthdays.
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 11:06 am:
way to ruin a perfectly good joke
Dave in NC reply on September 13th, 2008 2:50 am:
**forehead slams keyboard repeatedly**
September 12th, 2008 at 5:12 am
My birthday, November 10th, is tragic not because that is the same day the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk, and Leonid Breznev died.
It’s not because it is the anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps, and when I tell a marine it is my birthday, they don’t say happy birthday, they tell me “Semper Fi”
No, my birthday is tragic because I share it with Sinbad.
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 12th, 2008 8:56 am:
Ouch that’s gotta suck
Reply
SKD reply on September 12th, 2008 9:16 am:
I share mine with the US Navy. Didn’t find this out til after I was already in the Navy though
Reply
David B reply on March 13th, 2014 4:34 pm:
The Hell you say! My great-uncle went down with the Fitz!
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 5:41 am
This year my birthday is on the most unlucky day of all for the band, for the past two years the competition field has been muddy and almost impossible to march.
Last year it was the only day that we had rain. I forgot my jacket inside that day. It’s in October. It’s cold.
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I believe that for every tear shed on 9/11 the terrorists win a little more. I don’t think anyone should ever give over so that terrorists can sit in their holes, drinking whatever they do and say “Hehehe, we sure did fuck over those Americans.” If your Birthday is on the 11th, I think you should go out and act a fool, or all those deaths waged to make the terrorists pay will be in vain. (of course I am meaning in Afghanistan, Iraq is another story, Imo, I think if we didn’t step up, then some other country who would have gotten tired of Saddam, would have done so.) So Celebrate your birthday with all the joy and happiness, but remember to toast the first shot, first slice of cake, whatever, to the men and women who died on that horrible day, and to the men and women who are breaking their necks to ensure that you get to have a Birthday in a free country.
(captcha: coats cancerous, Does the AMA know?)
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
My friend’s nephew had his second birthday on the day of the attacks. As if the kid’s life wasn’t already screwed up without having a dad in it, then this happened.
Reply
September 12th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
congratulations……I think……
(catpcha: announcement news!)
Reply
paula reply on September 12th, 2008 8:07 pm:
dangit, that was supposed to be for Michiel’s #19 comment!
Reply
September 13th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I was reading this while on Graveyard shift at a hotel in my area…..and I end up having a guest have a fatal heart attack in the guest’s room…..too creepy for appropriate words.
Reply
September 13th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
April 15th. Best Birthday ever… and for years I would procrastinate on doing my taxes until the very last minute. At least I was never alone at the Post Office.
Capcha: news Hazard. How appropriate.
Reply
September 13th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I’d take the day back. September 11th was the birthday of an old workmate’s little brother back then, but it hasn’t stopped him celebrating his birthday since – he’s about 18 now.
We started a new roleplaying campaign this 11th. Don’t let terrorism ruin your day.
Reply
September 14th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Heh, I got an uncle, whose birthday is on April 1. How bad must his childhood have been?
Reply
Stickfodder reply on September 14th, 2008 2:42 pm:
All I can think of is exploding cakes
Reply
Anna reply on September 15th, 2008 9:25 am:
Let’s not forget those pesky candles that won’t go out no matter how hard you blow on them!
My dad got my mom with those on her 40th birthday. I didn’t think my mom could swear that creatively. :D
Captcha: inde Points – The IFC alternative to “street cred,” maybe?
Reply
September 16th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Actually, for an old college buddy, it was his 21st–and for us on the Left Coast roadtripping, Benjamin Netanyahu was more right thna he knew with his “Wakeup Call from Hell” comment…
Too bad my range won’t allow me to use the Osama targets, or I’d observe 9/11 with my 1911…
Reply