A Vigil Kept

On September 11, 2001, I was on an airplane for the first leg of my journey to Washington D.C.  I had a layover in Atlanta, and as we neared, we began circling and circling endlessly.  We started to wonder what was going on, especially when the pilot came on and merely said there was a delay before we could land.  Then people started getting calls on their cell phones and around me I could hear snatches of one-sided conversations.  "The World Trade Center has been hit!?!"  "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center?!!"  And so on.  We finally landed and everyone got off the plane.  I collected my luggage and was lucky enough to get a voucher for a hotel room.  I took a shuttle to the hotel and got to my room and flipped on the TV.  There I kept vigil all day long, watching the coverage of those horrible, nation-changing events.

Fast forward 10 years and what was I doing on September 11, 2011?  Keeping vigil yet again, only this time for a very different reason.  I was watching and waiting for the birth of my little Teresa Marie, who had died in the womb.   All day long I waited and suffered, not able to leave the house, not able to go to Mass.  Through the night it continued and into the next day.

On Monday, September 12, 2011, the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Teresa Marie Brungardt was born.  Though her soul was already in heaven, we will celebrate September 12 as her birthday. 

Teresa Marie, pray for us!