I wrote this a while back.
I remember that day in excruciating detail. I was on my way to work when I heard that a plane had crashed into the Twin Tower. I remember thinking it was maybe a small plane flown by someone who lost control, I thought. "Really, what idiot flies that close to those buildings?" When I got to work, I was meet with a look of abject terror on one of my workers face. She ran to me and said, "Did you hear about the plane that hit the twin tower?" I said I had and I told her what I had thought on the way. She started shaking her head and interrupted me, "There's been another one." We stood there just looking at each other for a minute. I went ahead and set up for the day. We had a T.V. in the lobby and watched it with growing horror. Then we learned that a plane had hit the pentagon. This same co-worker looked at me, and as long as I live I will never forget the expression on her face, the tone in her voice or the look in her eyes, when she said, "What is going on?" As the day progressed, we spent the day watching the news. Hardly anyone came in that day. I remember my dad calling me at some point and saying, "If you see anything funny get out." He was scared and, since I worked in a bank at the time, was really afraid for me. Silly, I know, because here I was at this no name bank in a little town, but it just shows how much fear and confusion it created. I remember thinking, for all the turmoil and horror we felt sitting there safe in that bank, on the ground in New York it was a million times worse. What I was feeling was a miniscule fraction of what was happening there. I prayed that day, I prayed hard. Driving home, I thought of my family, I worried that my sisters fiance would be deployed, I grieved for the people we lost and feared for the future. I had often heard from people that were alive during the Pearl Harbor attacks, that they would always remember what they were doing, where they were and who they were with when the attacks happened. I know now what they meant, my co-workers that morning were Adrienne Meyer, Robyn Thomas and Joe Newman. That day lives on in my memory and probably will forever. All I can say now is, in my own small way, I still grieve for those people lost, I still fear for our future, but I also learned that each day is precious, a gift for us to take advantage of. So I close in saying, keep your loved ones close, forgive when you can and enjoy every moment you get.
God Bless you and God Bless America
My daughter is only three, the only thing she knows about Sept 11th is that is grandpas birthday.