Remember

On a Serious Note:

Where were you, 10 years ago? This is my story. 

I had just arrived at school, and walked into my 6th grade class.  Mr. Price was sitting at his desk, and the television was on.  This was odd, because even though I was normally the first student in the class, the television was never on.  I remember the Today show was on, and I asked Mr. Price why we're watching television today.  He said that an American tragedy had just occured. One of the twin towers had been hit. 

I'll be honest. I was in 6th grade, and this was before I was a world traveler.  Outside of Saint Louis, I wasn't much concerned with the world.  

So I asked him where the twin towers were, and he told me it was New York.  Up until this point, only one tower had been hit. The news is just as confused as everyone else in the world, save the people on the plane, which more than likely died.  No one was calling it a terrorist attack, everyone thinks it's an accident.  I remember that commercials didn't exist.  (That much may not be true, I may just not remember the commercials being on due to the nature of the other programming).   Over the next 10 minutes, the second plane hits. I watched that one on the screen.  There were a couple other students in the room by this time, and we all were just watching the screen.  

The news had stopped using the word "accident" and began using the word "attacks" when describing the planes. The principal came on the announcements, described in brief detail what happened, and did a moment of silence.  I had never been in a moment of silence where absolutely no noise happened, especially in the elementary school.  We were young, and we may have had NO idea how this would affect us, but we could understand the somberness of what happened.  

After the moment of silence, the principal had announced that we had to continue on our curriculum and get back to working.  

I don't remember what was taught to me that day, or how it ended up that I got home early, but I know there was an early release.  And when I got home, I know my mother and father hugged me.  

That's about all I remember from that day. I didn't fully understand what happened, and I wasn't affected as badly as many other kids around the nation.  I didn't have anyone whom I knew in NYC who lost someone.  And honestly, I wouldn't fully understand it until I visited Ground Zero my Freshman year of college.  I wouldn't fully understand until I would meet *James Haddock, and he would tell me about the New Jersey train stations being filled with cars whose owners were never to return.  I wouldn't understand until I was told first hand of the emotions which went through James' mind when he realized he had lost his uncle. But September 11th, 2001 changed things for me.  

I had two military parents.  And to go after the terrorists, we needed military members.  I remember eventually breaking down outside of class later that year, and telling Mr. Price that my father was going to have to fight.  Being a catastrophizer (as my therapist told me) I felt that the terrorists had already killed my father.  There was no way of knowing, but dad wouldn't go for a long while after.  

I have more respect now for the military, and for people like Boyfriend and Dad and all my friends who fought or went over on deployments.  I still am proud to be an American, with my loved ones fighting so that I know I'm free.  I'll never forget the men and women who died ten years ago, and since then.  God Bless those families.  

For a pretty chilling timeline of the events, see the below links. 

Wikipedia Timeline: includes personal accounts.

9/11 Memorial Interactive Timeline: including phone clips from that day and audio clips from the flight attendants. 

*James Haddock's name has been changed because he is now a public figure in the state of Colorado.  I was friends with him for a long time, but when I left Jersey, I severed contact.  It was a mean thing on my part, but I wanted to completely start over when I moved back to Germany.