On September 11, 2001, my friend, (a Colonel in the Air Force at the time) was working deep inside NORAD.

NORAD is famous for being deep inside Cheyenne Mountain. It is a small city in there, complete with restaurants, sleeping quarters, and bunkers to house the President and VP and other important political leaders in times of crises.

It is rumored that our Vice President Dick Cheney was taken there on 911 to bunker down and be safe.

NORAD watches all things in the sky.

Even Santa, every Christmas eve is tracked by the men and women via satellite and reported on the news.

Everything in the sky is tracked. All the airplanes.

On that inauspicious day, everyone was drinking coffee, chatting, getting ready for their day. Everyone doing their job, watching and tracking the airplanes.

Just like every other day.

And then chaos broke out.

No one was really sure what was happening in the sky.

Many up at NORAD thought it was a training exercise.

Telephone calls were made, people were shouting.

Confusion.

What could it be?

The men and women, trained in the Air Force, allowed their instinct to take over, emotions aside they did their best to understand the situation and do what they could.

Now, five years later, my friend gets tears when talking about the day.

He can’t really remember all the details but he knows he felt helpless.

He talks about counting our blessings.

This friend, since retired from the Air Force, doesn’t have children, but he delights when K comes to visit him.

I saw him Saturday and he laughed when he found crayon marks on his wall.

"No one has ever crayoned on my wall" he laughed… "I've never had to worry about that bit of dirt before."

You are so lucky to have so much joy in your life.

Amen to that.