Stop The World

In contrast to much of media these days that is fast and onto the next trend, I want to live in a thought and explore it a little longer. What I am working on is sitting with an idea for a couple weeks and bringing it to life through words in a blog post, but also in other forms of art that I am learning like poetry and actual fine arts. That is what you will see here in companion with September 23rd’s post, “Patriotic.”

It’s hard not to think about September 11th writing about Patriotism. This year marked the 20th anniversary and I was so lucky to spend the morning with my sister running a trail race in Saugatuck. The trail was challenging, full of steep hills, dirt paths, fluffy sand, and 302 steps straight up a dune.

The morning was also beautiful. Cool, yet sunny. Blue skies and blue water. My dad was one of the race coordinators and he timed the race to start at 8:46– the time the first plane crashed into the first tower– as “Amazing Grace” into U2’s “I want to Run” blared throughout the starting line.

Music has been a tonic to hard times for generations. September 11th has received many tributes in tunes over the last 20 years. Starting with the many country crooners: The “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” and good old Toby Kieth’s “… Put a boot in your ass.” (A line I struggle very much with…) Even a young man in my freshman class composed a requiem in the fall 2001 garnering a handshake from George W. Bush on a visit to Ohio.

However, it wasn’t until September 11, 2020 that I heard the music from “Come From Away,” a fantasic Broadway play produced about the 38 planes that were rerouted to Newfoundland as the US airspace closed.

Theo came home from pre-K that day and shared, “there was a plane crash.” My mind busy with work on a normal day, wondered for a minute if there had been a local plane crash. In our rural area, crop dusters are always floating around, terrifying me with their steep drops. Absentmindedly I wondered, “Did one of those crash near the school?”

And, then the date hit me.

Yes. Oh my gosh, yes.

There was a plane crash.

And, my four year old knows about it.

I pressed, trying to learn more about what he knew.

“There was a lot of fire!”

“There were bad guys!”

A big crash and bad guys. There had to be a better way to talk about this with kids. So, I did what any other millennial mom would do… I got on a Facebook mom’s group and asked for help.

Advice started to flood in about talking about heroes like police officers and firefighters and even to discuss fire safety. Another woman shared the book, “The Man with the Red Bandana,” a heartbreakingly beautiful picture book a family created to honor their son who– thanks to multiple reports from survivors– helped so many get to safety as he went back and forth trying to clear the tower. (Sports Center did a tribute to him, too. Klenex required.) A teacher assured me that focus on “the crash and bad guys” was a totally normal reaction for a young boy. And, then one woman suggested the soundtrack to “Come From Away.”

After the bedtime routine and in my own bed, I found it on Spotify and pressed play. I listened to each song, piecing together what might be the story in my mind. I felt the fear as people sat on planes for hours, unsure why only to hear the rumors of “an accident” and “World War III.” The melody of many languages and prayers combining with my favorite prayer, the St. Francis prayer, is stunning. I cried my way through “Me and The Sky” a fantastic, empowering ballad about Pilot Beverly Bass and her lifelong love for planes. But, one song I came back to over and over again throughout the last year was, “Stop The World.”

You can hear it here.

The lyrics start:

Stop the world
Take a picture
Try to capture
To ensure this moment lasts
We’re still in it, but in a minute –
That’s the limit – and this present will be past

And here we are
Where the world has come together
And she will be
In this picture, forever

These words made me think a lot about the pandemic. In the early days of quarantine with such limited travel across the country, I remember looking up at the sky– just as I had on September 11th– and thinking, “There are no planes in the sky.”

I remember as a 14 year old, that was so strange. And, then again at thirty three, so strange. No planes in the sky.

So many when asked about September 11th will also mention the sky. How it’s bright blue contrasted with the black smoke only making it seem that much more distinct. Making people wonder if they would have even noticed how blue it really was without our eyes on the sky the whole day.

In quarantine, I took so many pictures. I took so many pictures of my kids, but always caught the sky, too. We were outside a lot so while snapped pictures and pondered about how strange it was that there were not planes in the air, I also caught the spring clouds. I wanted to capture them. I felt like I had to, calling it “Cloud Therapy” at times. They were so big, puffy and dreamy. Like the clouds in Andy’s bedroom in Toy Story. I remember wondering, “Is it always like this? Or am I just now noticing it?”

Can I see it better because the world as stopped? Because I have stopped?

The lyrics continue:

So stop the world
Stop the world

From spinning ’round
I wanna look out
Overlooking something
Worth taking the time
to stop flying by

I will tell my kids about quarantine, especially those very first weeks. When the world had truly come together and there were no planes in the sky and people stayed home. We went on walks and watched the clouds. And, it was in the clouds that we learned– I learned– that it’s important to stop spinning around, flying by and that so much is worth taking the time to stop because every moment will soon be the past.

To bring to life these thoughts I painted this piece using acrylic’s and loose, almost abstract techniques to capture their shape and feel found in the many photos we took when the world stopped.

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