Bright and way-sunny this Wednesday morning here on California’s north coast — rare type of wake-up, but due to my sleeping problems, I slept until well after sunrise and missed the dawn coming up like thunder.
Or at least, some kid of shout.

This is, of course, the day before that day 13 years ago. There’s been and will be a lot of stories this week on the anniversary of the World Trade Center terror attack, but my story is both sad and dumb.

On Monday,Sept. 10, 2001, I was then unemployed — the newspaper in which I’d been working for nearly three years had laid off my ass that spring due to them being lying assholes (it’s complicated) — and my oldest daughter was then at home, but already had wedding plans, her fiance in the US Navy.
And being jobless, I drove her to work every morning (she was a temp worker — only being at home a short space, but long enough to grab a quick job) and that Monday was no exception.
In small-talk exchange, she said there was  a worry about her guy’s safety, being in the military

(Illustration found here).

Wise daddy responded (and I do remember the words, pretty much exactly):

“Nah, the military is a good place to be right now. Not much going on, and he can get money for college. He shouldn’t have a problem, unless there’s a war.”

And I do remember tossing that last line out with a bit of a smirk. My daughter had smiled, too, at such a ridiculous idea. It’d been nearly a decade since ‘Black Hawk Down’ and more so since ‘Desert Storm,’ and why the freakin’ fuss.
Of course — that smirk was slapped way-off my face the next morning when the world awoke like thunder.

Take-away from this?
You never, ever know what tomorrow brings, no mater what your smug little ass thinks.