A host reflects on opening Come From Away and shares real-life recollections from Gander after 9/11, including the story of six Make-A-Wish girls celebrated as Tinkerbell’s fairies and a reminder to notice the aftermaths—the 9-12s—of life‑stopping events.
The speaker opens with a warm greeting, acknowledges different emotional states, and offers reassurance that it's okay to be struggling. This short intro sets a compassionate tone for the rest of the video.
The speaker describes opening a production of the musical Come From Away and situates it around the events of 9/11, emphasizing that the show is about what happened afterward. This gives context for the story and the video's main theme.
The speaker recounts how their director messaged Oz, Gander’s constable, who replied with recorded videos from home. These clips establish a direct personal connection to the real people behind the musical.
The speaker tells the moving story of six Make-A-Wish girls stranded in Gander who were celebrated by the townspeople as Tinkerbell's fairies and given parties and costumes. This anecdote highlights the town's compassion during a dark moment.
As flights resume, one girl tells her father it's okay they missed Disney because of their time in Gander, and that message gets relayed back to Oz. The narrator notes this intimate story isn't in the musical but was shared personally.
The speaker invites viewers to consider their own '9-12' moments—the things that happen after a life-stopping event—and suggests these aftermaths often hold stories of hope and resilience. They recommend watching the musical to witness those themes.
The video closes with the speaker cuing the musical's playoff and a brief musical snippet. This serves as an auditory wrap-up tied back to the production.
I hit the pause right there. Happy Saturday everybody. Hope you're doing great in whatever state you're in. If it's a state of rest or a state of work, a state of calm or a state of chaos, I hope to do whatever it is that you need to do to be well. And if you're not, know that that's okay as well. It's part of the journey. It's part of the thing, right? This so-called thing called life. Hey, Speak Wonder. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad you're here. I know the things I know and I care about you. So yesterday I opened a show, music directing a production of Come From Away, which is the story of of all of the planes that got grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada on 9-11, 25 years ago yesterday.
So it's a pretty cool day to open this musical. As our director Sean says, this isn't a 9-11 musical, it's a 9-12 musical. It's about all the things that happened in this little town of 9,000 people when 7,000 come from aways, strangers got stranded in their town in the way that they practice radical hospitality and love and grace and all these things. And 25 years later, these people are still touched by what happened 25 years ago. Their constable, his name is Oz, his first name. And he's still alive.
He's still kicking out there. And our director sent him a Facebook message. It was like, hey, Oz, would love if you had a moment to wish our cast well as we open up this world-renowned Broadway musical that's happening literally all over the place, thousands of productions. And Oz messaged him back on Facebook Messenger and sent him many videos sitting in his La-Z-Boy with his cat, Lucy, sitting on his chest. Real person. very, very real. And Oz told our cast the story. So there were 90 Make-A-Wish kids grounded in Gander.
They were all flying to Disney World and they got grounded on 9-11. So terminal kids, kids who are dying, were grounded in Canada rather than landing in Orlando. And Oz told the story about six of these kids, 6 girls who all had their birthday on the same day. And they were supposed to be spending it in Disney World. And then the world blew up. And they're stuck in this little backwater town on the east coast of the North American continent. And Oz told the story about how the town, all the kids in the town got their princess costumes out and told these six girls that they were Tinkerbell's fairies and that Tinkerbell sent them to Gander to let them know that Tinkerbell's thinking of them.
They threw parties and all these things. Here's the cool part of the story. So as the families are going through customs, finally when they're getting to take off again, And they found out at that moment they weren't going to be able to continue their flight to Orlando, that they were going to have to head back to England without going to Disney World. And one of the girls told their dad, it's okay. It's okay that we didn't get to Disney World because we had this great time in Gander. So then the dad told the customs agent, the customs agent went and told Oz that I have a message for you from one of the Make-A-Wish kids and it's that it's okay.
What a beautiful story. And again, interesting about that story is that story isn't in Come From Away. That story has only been shared from Oz through Facebook Messenger to my buddy Sean, and now I'm sharing it with you. I invite you today to think about the 9-12 moments in your life, the things that happen after the thing happens, the thing that happens after your world stops. There's probably a really good story there. There's some hope there and some reminder there and some strength there. And beautiful things can come.
And they do come in dark moments. So if you ever get a chance to watch Come From Away, it's on Apple TV, check it out. It's not a 9-11 musical. It's A 9-12 musical. Here's the playoff from the show and I'll play it for you right now. Three hits.
