Yesterday

I remember every detail of the morning of 9/11/01. 

 

Do you? 

 

I still can't believe it's been eleven years since the terrorist attacks on our country.  So much in my life has changed in those 11 years.  But that morning when those planes hit the World Trade Centers and Pentagon and the last plane went down thanks to the bravery of those on board......I can recall vividly.  I'll never forget the feeling I had as I listened to the radio and heard the DJ say a plane had hit one the towers. 

 

And then another.  And the Pentagon.  I know it wasn't happening in my town; it wasn't happening to the people I loved the most in the world, but I was scared.  Scared that the country I love, scared that someone, SOMETHING had found our Achilles heel.  I remember watching the live footage on TV of  people trapped in the towers and crying.  I felt helpless.  And guilty - guilty because I was thankful I was in little ole SC, and not somewhere like NY.  I felt those people's pain.  I prayed - more than I've ever prayed in my life. 

 

11 years.  Even after 11 years, I still have those same emotions.  Only now I'm a mother and a wife.  When I think about the events of that day, my emotions are magnified 100x because "what if that were my child on that plane?" or "what if that were my husband in that tower?"  I can.not.even.think. about how I would handle a "last phone call to say I love you." I can barely type these words out without almost crying.  I applaud the bravery of the loved ones on the other ends of those lines and I hope I never live a day where I am tested to see if I'm that brave. 

 

It's hard to teach the kids about 9/11 without tearing up or crying.  I can see the images of people jumping out of windows and falling to their deaths.  I can see the images of the explosions as the planes hit.  I can see the images of terrified people running and not knowing where to go.  It's something that I'll never get out of my head.  Some days I'm glad - some days I wish I had never seen the horrors of that day.  My kids don't understand my feelings - can't understand why I feel so strongly about something that didn't happen to me.  But it did.  I wasn't directly affected that day, but it changed me.  It made me realize that I live in a country that is venerable just like every other country.  September 11th, 2001 made me realize that the United States was not untouchable. 

 

  I hope my kids never live through an event like the 9/11 terror attacks.  But I hope they grow up understanding the importance of remembering the day. 

 

As a country, we must NEVER forget the tragedies of that day.  NEVER forget how unprepared we were for such horrors and NEVER forget how we came together as a country and helped heal each other.  Healing that is still taking place 11 years later.  The US may never fully recover, and that may be a good thing.  We must never put ourselves in a position where something to this magnitude can happen again. 

 

Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01?