On August 31st 2008, KJ and I decided to pay a visit to Officer J. Rowe of the Toronto Police Department, our favourite Police Department in the Universe. We were doing a blog project and we talked about how bad guys are arrested and much more. The need to let kids know that cops are our friends. KJ got to arrest officer Rowe and wear his hat too.
Yes, there are bad cops out there but majority of them swear under oath to serve and protect us. The same goes for the guys at the Firehouse. We stopped by over there too the same day. The guys gave KJ a tailor made fire suit of his own and a hat to match and let him ride in the truck. What could make a boy feel so fulfilled when he gets to play with his toy in real life. We have always been friends at the firehouse. KJ and I did a project with the guys asking why they always show up at a shooting along with medics and they explained to him plus showed him the defibrillator on the truck. (Aww, I love Canadian first responders!)I am a Nigerian American Canadian. All I can tell you is that I was born in one, taken to another at 10 days old and grew up there and naturalized in the 3rd. All three countries matter to me. My three sons are American.
On September 11th 2001, As most of you know, I am also a U.S registered Pharmacist of 20 years. I was heading to work at a Washington DC area pharmacy from my home in Baltimore (40 min drive) when the babysitter called at 8.40am to tell me to watch one of the WTC burning. Suddenly plane #2 came in ad you could hear the awww..... in the entire neighborhood as everyone was watching at the same time! It was a mess as I watched till 10.15am.
I dropped 6 month old KJ at Lisa's house and was on Interstate 95 South to DC when we got slammed in a traffic back up. Turning on the radio, I heard that another plane had crashed into the PENTAGON near the DC and Virginia border! It was chaos! It was hours, I mean hours but I finally got home......no work and I walked into my home at 7pm sharp to see the wall to wall TV coverage, schools were locked down all day, finally got all the kids and as I came in from the garage, I dropped the baby on the carpet in the toy room where my kids all played during their recreation.
I ran to the bathroom and come back to proceed to clean up the baby (KJ) when his dad walked in from DC, no car, nothing, everybody walked or hitched a ride home. As we both went to get KJ he had crawled into the toys and was wearing a toy plastic fireman's hat belonging to his 7 year old brother and he was holding a small American flag!!!!!!!!!!! The flags we had just held andwaved at the July 4th parade 2 months earlier.
We all screamed!!! Get the camera!!! This photo is a classic that we left behind in two places in Nigeria when we moved here in 2007. Framed in my stuff in storage and in my old office computer. One day I shall show you. It was as if Kayode Joshua knew what happened in America that fateful day. A story I repeatedly tell firemen and police all over the. We wrote on the picture with a marker "Sept 11th 2001 7pm. God Bless America"At almost 8 years old, KJ always asks me why it happened? I just tell him it was terrorism. Terrorists come in different sizes, shapes and color. I told him about Tim McVeigh in Oklahoma and more. We must never forget what happened that day. We all lost someone even if we didn't know them. Mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, grandmas and dads, single moms, friends, enemies but if we ever run into an emergency, we only have one place to call, it's 911!
GOD BLESS AMERICA. In observance of 9/11, All Keminications Media blogs will be CLOSED in observance of the 7 year anniversary of this tragedy........The pin on the left was knitted by my old lady neighbor who sold them for a dollar each to raise money for the victims however little it was.May all who we lost R.I.P...........Watch the videos below to reflect. Enjoy your day......Kemi
