Abigail Medina

When I first signed up to write this my thought was that I would track down some family members and ask them to tell me about Abby. What she was like, what her day was like, who she was to them, etc…My goal was to write a tribute detailing the life of Abby, there is so much focus on how all of these people died, but really what’s more important is to remember how they lived. I’m afraid I haven’t had much luck in locating contact information for her family. I did find this, which was written by her husband (I think sometime in 2002). So I know that she was a daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother. I know she was a Christian, and it seems that she had strong beliefs (she taught Sunday school to the preschoolers). I know that her family has found comfort in knowing that “She can no longer feel pain, and she is worshipping at the feet of her just and powerful God.” Which I think is actually a lot to know.

I’m not much of a sleuth, but then I haven’t been able to dedicate the time required to be honest. Since Abby was a mom I think she’d understand. I have much in common with her. I am the mom of two daughters. My girls are still very young (3 years & 4 months) but from the comments I’ve been able to find on some existing tribute sites I know that Abby was close to her daughters. They’re in their mid-twenties now (they were 14 & 17 in 2001). I am sure they miss her greatly. Wow is that the understatement of the year. I know that for me my biggest fear in life is that I will die too soon. What’s “too soon”? That I’ll miss some of my children’s life. I know that I will miss part of it, but that’s (supposed to be) so very far away. I want to see them go through their school years, and graduate from college. I want to see them get married and have children. I want to meet my grandchildren. I want to watch my daughters become mothers. I want to watch my children go through their successes and failures in life and be better people for it. And I want to be there to help them along and hopefully help them learn how to be happy in life. I think this is the wish of all moms. Abby missed some of that and it’s not fair. It’s not fair to her and it’s not fair to her daughters (or her husband, brothers, sisters, parents…she had a big family). I know, “life’s not fair”. But that doesn’t mean her life being cut short isn’t incredibly sad. I could write this tribute and talk about the events of 9/11 and how the world has changed, but Abby (and most of the others who died that day) were not aware of the why or even the how the world was changing at that moment. Think about it, none of us really were.

What I think is important is that we give a thought to those who were lost and how very much we miss them in our lives now. I believe they know we’re thinking of them and hopefully Abby is smiling knowing that even though I never met her, she has touched my life in a small way and that today along with many others, I’m thinking of her.