I'll Never Forget 9/11

The thought came to me this morning that 9/11 is one of those days, like the day when President Kennedy was assassinated -- we will always remember where we were and what we were doing at the time we first heard the news.

I was at work. A woman (I even remember her name) came into the office and said that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. I turned on the radio right away and heard all the excitement. Then they said another plane had crashed into the Towers. Shortly after that, they announced a plane had hit the Pentagon and another had crashed in Pennsylvania.

I remember thinking we were under some kind of attack, but what and who??? I wanted to be with my family.

A man called the office about something (I remember his name, too) and I asked if he was listening to the news but he wasn't. I told him our country was under attack. He seemed so calm, like I was being hysterical or something!! Then I explained what was happening. He still seemed calm almost as if I was imagining things!

In the meantime, several others had come in for a meeting. While they were getting ready, I heard on the radio that the Towers were falling down. I ran in to tell the others but everyone thought I must be mistaken. How could the Twin Towers fall? They weren't built to fall. They came in to hear the news on the radio that sure enough it had happened.

Of course, for days all we watched on TV and listened to on the radio were the reports. I couldn't (and still can't) watch the pictures of the people jumping out the buildings. Watching the people running ahead of the smoke was sureal, like something from a movie. That day in September is still sometimes hard to comprehend.

I've never been to Ground Zero but a few years ago while driving home from a family reunion in Ohio, my DD, along with three of my grandchildren, stopped in Shanksville, PA at the spot where the plane went down and that now familiar line, "Let's roll", was uttered by Todd Beamer. It was quite a sobering site and hard not to cry.

NEVER FORGET......