Today's post is from Vicki Higbee - A Proud Military Mom and a member of the First Coast Tea Party

I remember in January of 1991 the sinking feeling I had when Desert Storm began. In the back of my mind I thought, "At least my boys are too young to have to be involved." I was grateful that if a war was going to be fought, it was far away. I prayed the world would be a safer place for my children. My oldest was 12 then. My half brother and many other brave young men and women were in that conflict. It ended and life went on.

By the time 2001 rolled around my oldest son had left college for the Army and soon enrolled in the green to gold program for officers. He was 22.

I was at work on the morning of September 11, 2001. We were about to go in to our morning conference and someone rushed in to our office and said one of the Twin Towers had been hit. My husband called not long after as I was walking in to the conference room to tell me the news that the second Tower had been hit. We turned on the TV and watched in stunned horror.

The rest of the day was a fog, filled with calling family to make sure they were safe and watching the television for any news. As news of the Pentagon and the crash in Pennsylvania came out, we were frightened that more devastation was soon to follow. There was an attack and it was on our very shores. The security we had known was just an illusion. Old movies depicting the bombing of civilians in Britain and the bomb shelters there were flashing in my mind.

That night we met with friends at a local Church for prayer. There was comfort in knowing that friends and family all across this nation were meeting and praying as well.

One of my first thoughts was also of my oldest son. This time, he wasn't 12 and I knew that he would be called to serve.  And, he would answer that call. We all knew our lives had changed forever, not only for us as a family, but for our Country as well.

Over the last 10 years we have known the pain and fear of having our loved one deployed in harm's way and all of the unforeseen stresses in day to day life. When there's no communication, you know there's a blackout because someone has been injured or killed. You wait for the phone calls, and you dread a ringing phone in the middle of the night. You nervously watch the news. You celebrate birthday's and holiday's without him and you pray every day for his safety.

You try to comfort other relatives.  You hope and pray when he returns he will find things as they should be and as he deserves them to be. You pray he will be the same person and will return unharmed.  Motherly instincts kick in and you want to protect him yet you know only God can protect him and you pray God will.

You also tie yellow ribbons around your trees, put blue star flags in your windows and on your car and proudly wear the pin! You light a candle in the window. You do those things because you are proud and because it is the only thing you can do.

 The unspeakable horror of that day will live on with us forever. 9-11 was deadly and it was only the begininng. Destinies and lives have been changed and shaped by that one tragedy in ways that were unforeseen. Children have grown up without their fathers, leaving wives without husbands, and parents without children. Every year at the Holiday's I think of the seats that are forever empty and say a prayer for God to comfort the families.

When my son was 12 I was thankful that he was too young to go to Desert Storm.  Now my son who eventually went to war hopes the war he fought after 9/11 would prevent his children and his brother's children from having to do so. I pray for that as well and I pray we never forget the attack on America and the lives lost that day.