Season 7 September 11th ...my own reflection
This day always finds me reflecting on all that has transpired in the last 7 years. I know that each one of us remembers where we were on September 11, 2001. As do I...though my 9/11 story goes back a bit further than 2001. I thought I would share a little bit of it here. Aren't blogs wonderful...we'll be able to take all the posts one day and create...cocreate our memoir!
So my story is a bit odd...but then so am I ;-) My 9:11 story dates back to 1999. I had lost touch with someone who I consider my soul brother. He had moved from NYC to the LA area and I no longer had a working phone # for him. That wasn't unusual...he's a free spirit and just one of those friends that I knew when I saw him it would be as if no time had passed but until then we'd both be doing our own thing. I don't remember how I found his number or what day it was but I clearly recall our conversation...the energy that flooded through my entire being. And he felt it too. He shared that he had grabbed a sword he'd been training with (he's a stunt man) and was out on the roof top deck of his building flailing it through the air with an explosive surge of energy. I remember him asking, "Do you know what time you called??" I said, "No, but it's probably been about an hour?" To which he responded..."I know exactly what time you called...9:11...my watch stopped...it's never stopped before and I know it stopped the moment you called!"
All of a sudden I seemed to catch 9:11 everywhere. I planned a trip to California. Bobby was now living in Laurel Canyon and I was going to stay with him. I had my 1st meeting with a small publisher to show them "I Love You More". My trip, I think "unplanned", happen to fall over 9/11. I remember being upset that I was going to miss a big party in Miami which I still have the flyer for...its on my vision board...called "Above the Clouds" September 11, 1999.
It was a great trip...we laughed and cried and laughed and laughed and laughed! I met the publisher on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and though she wasn't interested she gave me some great feedback and good advice. Bobby introduced me to a friend of his who drove a 911 Porsche and we drove it down to the beach before I got on the Red Eye. We had a magical day playing in the sand...we did a ritual where we buried a feather from a seagull and declared that when that feather was uncovered that our stated intention would come true. I said that "I Love You More" would be with the perfect publisher and in the hands of millions. We had Bloody Marys while we watched the sun set...I'm figuring it must have been Sunday...because that's a perfect Sunday to me! (I don't think I started going to Agape until 2002.) We talked about the moment that had meant the most to us in our life....a great conversation topic! Bobby drove me to the airport in that 911 Porshe and walked me in...back then you could walk your friend all the way to the gate. We stopped and picked up an "I *Heart* LA" magnet and a "Hollywood" mug. Right at the boarding door we gave each other a big hug...one that probably felt like "I Love You More than anything in the whole wide world" and looked down at his watch...of course...9:11. That day may have very well been 9/11 but I can't say for sure. I have to check and see if the pictures from that day are dated. But any way the perfect ending to a perfect trip. Over the next two years Bobby and I would call each other when we noticed 9:11 and spoke on 9/11/2000.
And I remember clearly where I was during the events of 9/11/2001....looking forward to calling Bobby to say "Happy 9/11!" I was sitting at my sisters kitchen table on the phone with my coach. In August of 2001 we had decided to self-publish and had set a pretty big goal of having the books by October 29th as my mentor, John Demartini, was going to be speaking at my church. I thought it would be great if he could introduce me and the book to the world for the 1st time. I'm sure I planned a more relaxing day but my nephew, CJ (Christian Joseph) got really ill that day...turns out he is one of those unexplainably tuned in children to the world around him. He has to walk out of the room if the news is on and he has been known to get physically ill when things are going "wrong" in the world and in his family. He is a prcious soul! I was over helping my sister but was on a call with my coach when people started telling us that we needed to get off the phone because something big was happening. Not knowing what that was we decided to finish our call, honoring our committment to our coaching saying, "there's nothing more important than our call and this book right now." Then we got off the phone and watched what was happening! Wow! I had 3 good friends that lived just blocks from the World Trade Centers where I stayed when I visited. I had just been there in June and had taken a pretty incredible picture from their roof top with the towers behind me. Unfortunately it was from a disposable camera and didn't come out great. They watched the 2nd plane hit from their roof top deck...I can't even begin to explain how that's effected them! For us personally I remember asking..."Are we going to go through with this?" We had just borrowed $10,000 from my mom, hired a printer overseas but had no clue as to what we were doing! Standing in that day we had no idea what the world was going to look like 3 weeks or 3 months from then. Our original illustrations were on their way to Hong Kong to be scanned and we found out that they had been grounded in Alaska when the airports were shut down. It didn't take us but a moment to decide that "Now more than ever the world was going to need our book and its message of love!" Our goal to have our books by Oct 29th became even more unrealistic as UPS and FedEx could not guarantee any over night, 2 day, 5 day delivery for that matter, coming through customs and we had the whole process of proofing and lay out to handle. But with a lot of prayers and a few 2 AM phone calls the books arrived Monday morning October 29th.
So...that is my 9/11 story. I will always remember where I was that day. On the phone working out the details of my book and later that day in the emergency room with my nephew CJ. I believe that the only conversation that will erase the fear, hatered, sadness that sometimes fills our world is the conversation of LOVE. It may be a different love than you might be familiar with or assume that I am reffering to. This blog is already completely too long. But I believe that real love brings presence to any person or situation and that this experience of love erases fear. There's nothing left in the space when love is present than "Thank You, I Love You." (if even that...its a space where words almost cease to exist.) Yet...we are not here on this fabulous worldy plane to continually live in this space...we are here to continue to learn to love more and more of ourselves, others and the world around us. Once our consciousness has completely evolved as humans I believe we will be fully in this experience of love and at that time we will burst into a star of light and move on to the next experience...but that remains speculation for now :-) We're getting ahead of ourselves!
Today I spent the day watching some of the footage from 2001...not in a need to relive it kind of way but as a reflection...now seemingly so far removed from that day...looking at where I was and where I have come. Taking special time to remember the peoples lives that were changed forever on that day. How so many things in this country are still effected by that day. And also remembering that on that day I declared that I was going to be part of the solution, someone who would help bring the conversation of love into the world. I read emails that I have received from people around the world and connected with some new and old friends. I even sent out a batch of "I Love You More" books today...I figured it was a good day for a little extra love to be traveling through the world. I went down to my favorite park and worked on some edits for my next book. And am writing this blog (short novel) while watching a U2 special...the words that just played..."And I, and I believe in love..." Go Bono!!!
Well...I'm not sure if this will make sense to anyone else but me...but sometimes that is just what this blog is about...having a space to let go of what's inside to make space for the new :-)
Have a bright and blessed lifetime!
Keep Shining!
Laura
So my story is a bit odd...but then so am I ;-) My 9:11 story dates back to 1999. I had lost touch with someone who I consider my soul brother. He had moved from NYC to the LA area and I no longer had a working phone # for him. That wasn't unusual...he's a free spirit and just one of those friends that I knew when I saw him it would be as if no time had passed but until then we'd both be doing our own thing. I don't remember how I found his number or what day it was but I clearly recall our conversation...the energy that flooded through my entire being. And he felt it too. He shared that he had grabbed a sword he'd been training with (he's a stunt man) and was out on the roof top deck of his building flailing it through the air with an explosive surge of energy. I remember him asking, "Do you know what time you called??" I said, "No, but it's probably been about an hour?" To which he responded..."I know exactly what time you called...9:11...my watch stopped...it's never stopped before and I know it stopped the moment you called!"
All of a sudden I seemed to catch 9:11 everywhere. I planned a trip to California. Bobby was now living in Laurel Canyon and I was going to stay with him. I had my 1st meeting with a small publisher to show them "I Love You More". My trip, I think "unplanned", happen to fall over 9/11. I remember being upset that I was going to miss a big party in Miami which I still have the flyer for...its on my vision board...called "Above the Clouds" September 11, 1999.
It was a great trip...we laughed and cried and laughed and laughed and laughed! I met the publisher on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and though she wasn't interested she gave me some great feedback and good advice. Bobby introduced me to a friend of his who drove a 911 Porsche and we drove it down to the beach before I got on the Red Eye. We had a magical day playing in the sand...we did a ritual where we buried a feather from a seagull and declared that when that feather was uncovered that our stated intention would come true. I said that "I Love You More" would be with the perfect publisher and in the hands of millions. We had Bloody Marys while we watched the sun set...I'm figuring it must have been Sunday...because that's a perfect Sunday to me! (I don't think I started going to Agape until 2002.) We talked about the moment that had meant the most to us in our life....a great conversation topic! Bobby drove me to the airport in that 911 Porshe and walked me in...back then you could walk your friend all the way to the gate. We stopped and picked up an "I *Heart* LA" magnet and a "Hollywood" mug. Right at the boarding door we gave each other a big hug...one that probably felt like "I Love You More than anything in the whole wide world" and looked down at his watch...of course...9:11. That day may have very well been 9/11 but I can't say for sure. I have to check and see if the pictures from that day are dated. But any way the perfect ending to a perfect trip. Over the next two years Bobby and I would call each other when we noticed 9:11 and spoke on 9/11/2000.
And I remember clearly where I was during the events of 9/11/2001....looking forward to calling Bobby to say "Happy 9/11!" I was sitting at my sisters kitchen table on the phone with my coach. In August of 2001 we had decided to self-publish and had set a pretty big goal of having the books by October 29th as my mentor, John Demartini, was going to be speaking at my church. I thought it would be great if he could introduce me and the book to the world for the 1st time. I'm sure I planned a more relaxing day but my nephew, CJ (Christian Joseph) got really ill that day...turns out he is one of those unexplainably tuned in children to the world around him. He has to walk out of the room if the news is on and he has been known to get physically ill when things are going "wrong" in the world and in his family. He is a prcious soul! I was over helping my sister but was on a call with my coach when people started telling us that we needed to get off the phone because something big was happening. Not knowing what that was we decided to finish our call, honoring our committment to our coaching saying, "there's nothing more important than our call and this book right now." Then we got off the phone and watched what was happening! Wow! I had 3 good friends that lived just blocks from the World Trade Centers where I stayed when I visited. I had just been there in June and had taken a pretty incredible picture from their roof top with the towers behind me. Unfortunately it was from a disposable camera and didn't come out great. They watched the 2nd plane hit from their roof top deck...I can't even begin to explain how that's effected them! For us personally I remember asking..."Are we going to go through with this?" We had just borrowed $10,000 from my mom, hired a printer overseas but had no clue as to what we were doing! Standing in that day we had no idea what the world was going to look like 3 weeks or 3 months from then. Our original illustrations were on their way to Hong Kong to be scanned and we found out that they had been grounded in Alaska when the airports were shut down. It didn't take us but a moment to decide that "Now more than ever the world was going to need our book and its message of love!" Our goal to have our books by Oct 29th became even more unrealistic as UPS and FedEx could not guarantee any over night, 2 day, 5 day delivery for that matter, coming through customs and we had the whole process of proofing and lay out to handle. But with a lot of prayers and a few 2 AM phone calls the books arrived Monday morning October 29th.
So...that is my 9/11 story. I will always remember where I was that day. On the phone working out the details of my book and later that day in the emergency room with my nephew CJ. I believe that the only conversation that will erase the fear, hatered, sadness that sometimes fills our world is the conversation of LOVE. It may be a different love than you might be familiar with or assume that I am reffering to. This blog is already completely too long. But I believe that real love brings presence to any person or situation and that this experience of love erases fear. There's nothing left in the space when love is present than "Thank You, I Love You." (if even that...its a space where words almost cease to exist.) Yet...we are not here on this fabulous worldy plane to continually live in this space...we are here to continue to learn to love more and more of ourselves, others and the world around us. Once our consciousness has completely evolved as humans I believe we will be fully in this experience of love and at that time we will burst into a star of light and move on to the next experience...but that remains speculation for now :-) We're getting ahead of ourselves!
Today I spent the day watching some of the footage from 2001...not in a need to relive it kind of way but as a reflection...now seemingly so far removed from that day...looking at where I was and where I have come. Taking special time to remember the peoples lives that were changed forever on that day. How so many things in this country are still effected by that day. And also remembering that on that day I declared that I was going to be part of the solution, someone who would help bring the conversation of love into the world. I read emails that I have received from people around the world and connected with some new and old friends. I even sent out a batch of "I Love You More" books today...I figured it was a good day for a little extra love to be traveling through the world. I went down to my favorite park and worked on some edits for my next book. And am writing this blog (short novel) while watching a U2 special...the words that just played..."And I, and I believe in love..." Go Bono!!!
Well...I'm not sure if this will make sense to anyone else but me...but sometimes that is just what this blog is about...having a space to let go of what's inside to make space for the new :-)
Have a bright and blessed lifetime!
Keep Shining!
Laura
Comment
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Comment by Shirah Penn on September 18, 2008 at 5:12pm - Laura, I love you!!! YES! It is all about love. No wonder our paths have crossed and we continue to touch each other in a very special way. The conversation of love is what i have been speaking all the 70 years of my life and the 42 years I was teaching little kids. Just as your journey has led you to your mentor Dr. DiMartini, mine led me to Jack Canfield through Insight Seminars and then to Self Esteem Seminars. It is no accident that I am teaching I'm Thumbody and Thumbody, Too for the Mental Health Association. It is just another way I can reach little kids with that message of love. Looking forward to seeing you at Empowering Our Children Conference in November. Love and Light , Shirah
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Comment by Sara on September 13, 2008 at 8:17pm - Up until this year, I blogged about 9/11 on every anniversary. One of those blogs was called "Love is why we are here" and was partly inspired by the image of those who leapt from the towers holding hands. I will have to dig it up and repost it here on CCOR at some point.. thank you for your beautiful story.
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Comment by DonnaOnTheBeach on September 12, 2008 at 11:46am - the message of love is never too long Laura - what a beautiful story. xx
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Comment by Aleta on September 12, 2008 at 12:41am - Oh, oh my darling friend, muse of CCOR, free spirit and heart wrenching empowering soul, it does, oh it does make total sense........
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