Wednesday, April 29, 2015

OKC Memorial

This weekend was a whirlwind of a trip. Saturday Anna and I busted out of town and headed to Oklahoma City to run the 15th annual OKC Memorial Run. The whole trip was amazing. The half was the most fun I have ever had running. I even felt like I could have kept going. OKC, you did not disappoint. The people, atmosphere and energy were epic.

 I plan to talk more about the race soon but today I wanted to share about the most impactful part of our time in OKC. 

The memorial.


 We first passed through here about 5:30 a.m. it was cold, it was dark and it was beautiful. So many people gathered, praying, sitting. We immediately made plans to go back later so we could take it all in, in the day light.


The survivor tree. 

I have wanted to see this tree for several years and there I was standing right in front of it.


Pictures fail to do it justice. It was the most beautiful tree I have ever seen.




From the tree you can overlook the memorial.

The two walls, one at each end, say 9:01 & 9:03. Everything between them reflects what happened at 9:02 on April 19th 1995.





After looking and talking a bit we decided to go walk around a bit closer. 

I was not prepared for the emotions that would soon follow. 

168 chairs, the smaller ones for the children, each with a name of someones parent, wife, child, grandparent. My eyes filed with tears as we walked around. Every chair had something on it. Coins, race medals, bibs, flowers. Nobody was forgotten.




Oklahoma City follow it's motto.

Run To Remember.

I feel so privileged that we got to be a part of that.


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20 comments:

  1. Wow so powerful! I am so glad you got to go- sounds like a very impacting weekend

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  2. It's so beautiful there! And yay for a GOOD, fun run!! I'm sure you all were inspired by your surroundings with all that tangible energy that everyone had! What a great weekend!

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  3. Desiree @ Macke MonologuesApril 29, 2015 at 10:33 AM

    Wow, so much impact. I have to admit, I'm wiping tears away.
    What a great race to be a part of, and how wonderful that you were able to spend some time reflecting at such a beautiful memorial.

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  4. I'm tearing up just looking at your pictures & reading your words. Words can't describe the emotions that I'm sure you were feeling as you were walking around.

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  5. Wow, what an awesome experience. I had to keep from crying just reading this. Love that you and your friend Anna got to see everything and run the race together.

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  6. Wow what a powerful post-race experience. That memorial is really something else.

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  7. Ok I am crying just looking at these photos! thank you so much for sharing.

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  8. You are so welcome. It was the highlight of the trip and definitely deserved it's own post.

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  9. It was so powerful. I honestly didn't expect it to affect me the way it did. So glad we were able to go.

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  10. Me to Jamie. We have so many awesome memories together. This is definitely a new favorite.

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  11. I cried there, then again when I wrote this post. I had no idea it would hit me that hard. it was amazing.

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  12. You just can't help it girl. It was gut wrenching. I am not sure why I didn't expect it, silly me, but my emotions really caught me off guard that day. It was simply amazing. You gotta go some day!

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  13. It is so beautiful! Yes, yes, yes. Exactly what you said. It was just amazing.

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  14. It was so impactful. I will never, ever forget it.

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  15. WOW. Just wow. So beautiful and so powerful. It's so awesome that they have such a wonderful memorial.

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  16. Oh my goodness, the chairs! I would have cried too, especially seeing the little ones. It is important that we never forget these type of events. What a beautiful memorial!

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  17. It is so important to never forget. They really did build an amazing place to reflect and remember.

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  18. Exactly. They built something so, so beautiful. So glad I got to see it.

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  19. What a beautiful memorial. I'm tearing up just looking at your pictures. I'm not quite sure how you kept your emotions in check. XOXO

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  20. Oh I didn't girl. Thank goodness I had sunglasses on to hide behind. It was such a special place.

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