Remembering 9/11/2001

As I trudge through my routine tasks today, I am thinking about the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all the people who lost their lives when America was ruthlessly attacked eleven years ago. It was a scary time. I still remember how I heard the news of  my homeland being violated. 

We were living in Pennsylvania at the time. Mermaid, who was only a year and half, was sliding down the slide at the park. The leaves were beginning to boast some of their vibrant hues that would soon take over the entire town. It happened during our little stretch of pre-fall splendor.  Even though we were a mere 4 1/2 hour drive from New York City I knew nothing of it. We walked the short distance back to our townhome and carried on with our day.

 Before long my phone rang. It was my mother-in-law. “Did you hear what happened?” she asked.

Thinking she was talking about something totally different, “oh…. Yeah…” I replied. “That’s too bad.”

“Are you guys okay?” she asked me.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” As the conversation continued I realized we weren’t talking about the same things. “Wait. What happened??” I asked her.

“The Twin Towers in NY were attacked this morning.”

“What?,” I replied perplexed.  “oh no!”

After assuring her that we were all doing fine and insuring that everyone back home was okay too I hung up the phone and immediately turned on the TV. I quickly learned of the first two airplanes that each hit one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NY as well as the next  plane that hit the Pentagon and the fourth one that crash landed in a field in Pennsylvania. For the next  four days I was glued to the news. It was surreal. I couldn’t believe what happened and I couldn’t help but wonder how this would affect my little family. Lucky for us, it didn’t affect us greatly.

 As I watched the aftermath on tv my heart went out to all those whose lives were impacted by these horrifying acts. Today, let's remember all who lost their lives that fateful September day. Whether they were in the buildings as they collapsed or they were passengers in the airplanes that tragically went down. And let us be forever grateful to the heroes who gave their lives trying to preserve another.

Where were you when you first heard about the attacks on America?