My alarm was set to a news station and it went off to wake me for my college class. I heard the announcer say one of the WTC towers was on fire, they thought a small plane had hit it. Through my sleepy stupor I then heard the man exclaim that another plane just hit the other tower and the realization set in that this was no accident. I jumped up and ran to turn on the T.V. just as the phone rang and it was my sister freaking out. I sat with her on the phone and watched in horror as it all unfolded. As the second tower fell I lost my mind - had panic attacks for weeks afterwards - because I saw an interview with a firefighter who was geared up and ready to head into the second tower after the first tower fell. I cried my eyes out for him because I knew, as I watched the second tower fall, that he was gone!
I picked my 10 year old daughter up from school right after the WTC was gone. The news was reporting that other planes may be unaccounted for and missing. If the world was going crazy I wanted her with me. As we got home and out of the car, I had her stop and look up at the clear, blue sky and noted that the day was one to remember forever and that it was the first time, and hopefully the last, that she would ever see the sky empty of a single airplane or jet trail. The feelings of that day still linger...
God Bless all whose lives were impacted by the tragic events of that day! |