911 From Cappy and Pegody's Minor Part of the World

We felt as helpless as everyone else when the tragedy struck five years ago. We first learned about it as we were driving home from northern Mississippi, singing at the top of our lungs in true Cappy and Pegody fashion. We were in our own little world, road tripping, as usual, playing our favorite CD's, munching on junk food, and just enjoying the beautifully bright sun-shiney day and one another's company. When Cappy removed the CD to replace it with another, the radio came on saying that New Orleans was shut down, and that military was everywhere insuring that there was to be no traffic, especially in and around the airport, which was also shut down. We almost stopped the truck, because we were headed toward the New Orleans area, but kept moving along at a slower pace to listen to what in the world had happened. We were thinking about turning around and heading north, when we heard that New York City had been attacked and that the Twin Towers were down. (down??!) Oh come ON! This had to be one of those stupid radio shows, like Walton and Johnson, or a remake of the War of the World; something like that. I was disgusted and was about to put another CD in when the people on the radio said that the Pentagon had also been attacked and several people were thought to have perished. What in the world had happened in the few short hours since we had gotten up, breakfasted and left for South Louisiana?? New York and Washington, DC had been attacked...And New Orleans? We had been thinking of turning around and heading north, but with this information, North was very scarey as well. We just kept heading for home in silence listening to the radio, our heads spinning, along with everyone else in the United States. When we stopped for gas, the store attendants and customers were so very quiet, but when they did speak, it was in the most tenderly polite tone I've ever heard. Nobody spoke about what was going on, but each person quietly, almost reverently said the most menial things, such as a simple, "thank you" in such a way that I felt they also wanted to hug the person as though it might be for the last time, even tho we were all strangers. We were strangers, but suddenly we all felt like close family.
By the time we had gotten home, we had gotten pretty much the full gist of what had happened that day. New Orleans had been shut down because the President had been routed there as a precaution, and the extent of the attacks was still uncertain.
Cappy had to go right back out on his towboat, so I was left with the terrible news day after day on the television. I had to channel my energy somehow, so that's how the quilt came to be. I learned of two young children whose father had died in one of the Twin Towers, and whose mother days later had died of cancer. A friend of ours, Carol, who lives in New York City knew of someone, who knew the children's family, and so delivered the quilt to them. It sure wasn't much, cloth and thread, but in every stitch I put in love and prayers. In the face of all the tragedy, it seems like so little.