Where were you that day 13 years ago?
We’re you at school?
Work?
Traveling?
What did you do?
Pray?
Cry?
Scream?
I remember that day well. I was 23 years old, married for almost 3 years, at home with a 2 year old and a 3 month old baby, still trying to figure this thing called “life” out.
I remember the tv being on and a special report coming through. I was in disbelief, utter shock.
Actually more like confusion.
I couldn’t grasped what was being revealed right in front of me.
It seemed surreal.
Not reality.
I seriously could not move. I remember my husby calling from work telling me to stay put and keep watching the report.
I remember thinking what else can I do but pray. So praying I did.
Holding my babies a little tighter a little longer.
I remember calling my momma who didn’t even know how to comfort me this this horrific event.
Questions came.
Why?
Who?
How?
But knowing not all questions would ever be answered.
And if we were l being honest on that day, we really did not know what more was to come, but fearing that the worst was not out of the question.
Where were you?
And what did you do when the world stopped turning?
No matter where we were or what we were doing, none of us will never forgot that horrific day that changed not only our country but each one of us forever.
I was in my classroom of first graders. It didn’t stop turning for us. It couldn’t. We talked about what had happened. We did our reading and math and spelling lessons. I sent them home and told them to not turn on the television until their parents got home and reminded them that though the news would show the planes crashing over and over again, it did in fact only happen once. They listened. They came back the next day and we did reading and math and spelling all over again because that’s what they needed. It’s what I needed too.
I completely understand Heather. Being with small children it’s important to continue the daily routine for their mind as much as your sanity.
I was getting ready for work. I stood in my home unable to take my eyes off the tv news reports. All that ran through my mind was that ‘we are now at war’. At the college where I taught, the IT dept connected the television feed to large screen in the main meeting room so that everyone could see and hear history being played out in real time. Students & faculty could come and go as they chose. I felt it was important to talk to the students, especially since so many of them lived on campus, far away from their own families. We did all we could to connect and comfort. In response to terrorists shaping our behavior– no. We were not going to hide or cower in fear. We simply did the next thing. Attended classes and renewed our determination to be Informed and engaged.
Really other than when the Space Shuttle Challenger in the 80’s exploded I had really experienced something that shock up America the way 9/11 did. Thank you for sharing your story.