Oklahoma City and the Memorial

You do not want to miss this emotional experience.

We thought we would spend only a couple of hours at this memorial and museum; however, we quickly saw this would become a full day experience.

This is a quote from the web site:
The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was created to honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum are dedicated to educating visitors about the impact of violence, informing about events surrounding the bombing, and inspiring hope and healing through lessons learned by those affected.

We walked through the memorial and found it truly to be one of the most peaceful and moving monuments we have ever experienced. However, the impact was yet to be truly felt...until we spent the bulk of our time in the museum - viewing a baby shoe of a child in the daycare who died as a result of this tragic act - viewing the photographs of the victims who died in the bombing and the special artifacts left by their family members (three women who were killed were pregnant and their unborn children's names were included on the chairs in the memorial). We both cried as we heard the survivors stories and watched the television coverage of that tragic day...everyone around us were also in tears. We learned of heroes in the community and beyond. We learned of the aftermath and we learned the lessons of evil and violence. After several hours walking through the very detailed and fascinating exhibits and videos, we left feeling devastated and somewhat numb with sadness. We now understood the symbols throughout the memorial grounds - and yearned for additional time to walk the grounds in silence. We needed this time to gain our composure before leaving. As we left the memorial, a young man in front of me was whistling, "Amazing Grace." Amazing Grace indeed.