Through the forests

is the memorial run today to raise money to build a memorial for the Flight 3407 crash. I can hear the speeches from mom & dad's backyard. It's an in-person version of how I feel when I think about the crash. Like I can hear the sirens, and crying, and "almosts" through a thick forests of trees but I'm too far away to see it. Yet if I just walk <5 minutes I could be where it all happened and it would be too real.

I like to be on this side of the trees. Bill calls this post-traumatic-stress and that they should have counseled the town. They probably did. But what do you do for those of us that were away when it happened but who, when we think about it every now and again, get a stomachache because we realize we could have lost our family and hometown in one dramatic swoop?

My family can usually hear the Labor Day Fair though the trees too. This fund raiser has bands, and speeches, and Chivettas, and Pizza Inn, and a beer tent. It's like the fair but for a memorial. Oddly comforting that the town would raise money doing what they do best...raise a bottle to the band playing "brown eyed girl" in honor of something they feel so important it has to have a physical place for honor and reminder.

The massive amounts of money in this town collect in a blue collar fashion to give dollars to a marble statue. It's pretty good summary of the irony in my hometown...Big-Dollar-Hockey-Players mingle everyday with farm-kids - making for a really close-knit town to grow up in. Weird. Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-ti-da. La-ti-da.

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P.S. Pizza Inn is now Clarence Pizza Cafe. Gracie says they got sued over the name. How ridiculous is that?

P.P.S - It's 1pm and Zion is now ringing the church bells 50+ time in honor of the victims and I am crying. I now have to log my parents & aunt/uncle in to Southwest to fly home from Washington. How messed up is this?

P.P.P.S - The follow up song to the silence and then bell ringing in the beer tent - the first thing to break the eeriness - is the song "Feelin' Alright." Oh Clarence. How you love a perfectly planned party :]

P.P.P.P.S. - Is Buffalo the only place (next to Canada) who knows the band the Tragically Hip? I know if you're a Canuk you know who they are - but in Rochester no one knows who I'm taking about. I think Buffalo is the only place sans north of the border where you can hear garage band versions of this fabulous rock band. Sometimes I love being home.