Sixth Sense

You know I went through most of the day yesterday not registering that it was September 11th. I didn't realize it last night until Java Monkey. I decided to do Warning Signs because it speaks directly to that day. Two poets before I was to read my friend Cindy called.
Cindy is great!
She's one of those people who make you smile.
I can feel like crap, but she greets me every work morning with a tone in her voice that makes me feel light.
" Hey Theresa, how you doing?"
And I always smile and sometimes the answer is ,
"Did you say how or who I'm doing?"
Or " I had a fucked up evening. Thanks for asking."
Smiling the entire time.
She has a laugh that makes it all better, on my down days I find myself trying to be witty so her laughter will lift me up.
I'm totally using her.
We both benefit.
Any who.
She called me while I was at Java, and I answered it, something I try not to do while poets perform. It felt urgent that I talk to her, because it was 9/11.
Cindy's brother Vernon Cherry, was a New York Firefighter.
He was one of the first firefighters who entered the Towers, and was one of the last bodies they found the following May.
It's unfortunate, but Cindy and I share a lot of loss.

On 9/11, when the first plane struck, we were on our way to a memorial service for a student we both loved who was killed in a senseless car accident. We lost three students that year.

Then in November or boss Dr. Lorraine Wilson passed away.

After her brother's body was recovered, her mother passed away.

The following spring, my father.

But with all that loss, we, she and I, have found a friendship that is solid and strong.
She knows I will bend over backwards, drop everything if she needs anything. And I know she'd do the same. I have truly been blessed to find myself surrounded by people who inspire me and love me, unconditionally. She's late to work today and I sit here at my desk trying to think of something to make her smile, because I know the first thing she will do is say, " Hey Theresa, how you doing?"
And I'll get to tell her how I've been thinking about her.
Of course I'll figure out a way to make it sound dirty.
She will smile give me a blushing giggle.
I will smile because her presence demands it,
and we will both have an excellent day!
All because of my dirty mind, and her infectious laughter!
What a great combo!