My Take on 9/11

[Ric Wilke]

Dearest Friends,

It was during the very moment the airliners were crashing into the Twin Towers, five years ago today, during my annual physical with my primary care doctor that I was having a blood draw that led to my diagnosis of AIDS.

9/11 means something different to me than to most other people.  It was that day that my own tower came crashing down.  I learned of my positive status before the dust had settled in NYC.  Because of my loving spouse, Thom, my ground zero has been rebuilt.  My tower is back.  Standing taller, prouder than ever.

I am thankful for many things.  My greatly improved heath.  The love of a man who has stood by my side every step of this journey.  The large number of friends I have made here on AIDSmed.com and the support I have received from your unending love.  

May the powers that be keep all of you well.  Together we will live to see an end to this horrid disease.  We will dance together as the world's largest family.  And as we say here in Wisconsin, "We will party 'til the cows come home."

With deepest respect and love to you all, Ric.

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me . . .

[ndrew]

What beautiful words, thank you Ric!

Kindest,
Drew

[wellington]

Suddenly, I feel the urge to moooo Tragedy does indeed have great transformative powers.

[Eldon]

Ric, thank you for sharing this with us. You are not alone. Give an extra long hug to the one by your side.



Have the BEST Day!

[AlanBama]

It is definitely a memorable day for you Ric.....

I'm glad you're here, glad you're safe, and glad to call you my friend.

Hugs to you and Thom,

Alan   

[Biggums]

Ric,

Your posts are always so meaningful.  I am glad you are here and have influenced my life.  Like so many beautiful things that have come from the tragedy of 9/11, you are one of them as well.  Thank you for sharing your story and your life with us.  Bless you.

[Ann]

Wow Ric, I didn't realise you were diagnosed on 9/11 - although upon reflection, I think maybe you did mention this ages ago. Maybe on one of the other anniversaries?

The morning of 9/11/2001 found me and my partner travelling in the Loire Valley in France. We arrived in Angers in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel room and went downstairs to the cafe for lunch. Our waiter was very friendly and spoke passable English. He wanted to know where we were from and what we thought of France and we talked for a good ten minutes. He took our order and disappeared into the kitchen, where a radio could be heard. About ten minutes later he came running out to our table, his good English replaced by only the phrases "World Trade Center", "airplane" and "boom". It was so surreal - this man who was only minutes beforehand speaking to us in very understandable English was suddenly reduced to a wild pantomime of a plane flying into a building. His command of the English language deserted him almost completely through his distress.

We had a very difficult time over the next few hours piecing together what happened. We watched some telly in our room, but as there were no English stations available, we still didn't know quite what was happening. Every time an English speaking person started to talk, the audio was replaced with a French speaking voice-over. Talk about frustration!

I was fairly newly diagnosed myself at this point, and I couldn't help but relate the events in NYC with the shock of my diagnosis. Even the fact that we were trying to understand information that was being presented to us in a foreign language struck a chord with me because that was exactly how I felt during the initial days of knowing that I had hiv.

I felt a little guilty I guess, equating my situation with the situation in NYC and so I never really talked about it at the time. The fact remained though that to me, it did feel entwined somehow in my psyche. I could relate to those crumbling buildings in a way that perhaps others couldn't. And now I find that you were having very similar thoughts, Ric. All I can think of to say now is ....

((((((Ric))))))

More hugs,
Ann
xxx