by Soulla Christodoulou
Welcome to this week’s blog post which is a bitter-sweet one because I am not only celebrating the five-year book anniversary of Broken Pieces of Tomorrow but also remembering how I felt standing at Ground Zero in April 2006/2007.
My marriage at the time was hanging by a thread and I went on a long weekend break with my best friend, Thalia in the book, who had recently separated from her husband.
We were both in turmoil yet we both found joy in being away from the stifling situations at home. It was like a kind of release to be free from all the responsibilities of being a good wife, mother and daughter. My boys were eleven, eight and six at the time.
I remember standing at Ground Zero and being suffocated by the silence; it was heavy, foreboding, uncomfortable. The sheer weight of all those lives lost during the destruction of the Twin Towers in 2001 pushed down on me hard and I remember standing there and crying my eyes out. I couldn’t speak. And even if I did, what would I say.
But the tears, though falling for all those hundreds of lives lost and all those still living but destroyed, also fell for me and my own situation. I rarely feel sorry for me but I did that day. The silence spoke to me. The destruction touched me too.
I remember having moved into our new home only a few weeks before the attacks and watching the situation unfold on the television. It seemed unreal, unfathomable that such a thing could happen. I sat for a long time crying, cradling my youngest in my arms and cuddling on the sofa with the two older boys. I didn’t want to ever let them go. I wanted my husband home. I wanted my family to be at home and safe.
Those memories and the feelings of standing at Ground Zero stayed with me for a long time and came out again in a short paragraph in my debut novel Broken Pieces of Tomorrow.
It’s odd how the world’s events can impact on us and our own situation and I recall dreading going back home even though I was missing my children.
I knew in my heart, though I hated to admit it, my marriage was over and I would have to fight to keep the boys.
How has something in the news effected you? Have you acknowledged the impact it had on you or did you try to avoid it?
Life isn’t always pretty but one thing I have learnt is that strong women don;t give up… they find a way through tears and thrills to love again… and I did.
This post is dedicated to the 2,977 killed in the attacks on that dreadful September day. May they Rest In Eternal Peace.
With much love, Soulla xxx
