remembering 9/11

when i woke up on this day 10 years ago, i didn’t know what the world trade centers were.

i was a senior in high school. during second period, which for me was study hall, a girl i didn’t really ever talk to said something to me about how we should get out of school early because people were flying planes into the twin towers.

i had no idea what she was talking about, but i pretended like i did.

forty-some minutes later, i went to my third period art class. our teacher had the tv on and i was shocked at what i was seeing. my mind couldn’t comprehend it.

i felt like i was the last one to find out what was going on. i remember where in her classroom i was sitting, and i can even remember what i was wearing, because we had a volleyball game that night. we watched tv the entire class period.

on my way to fourth period, i ran into one of my best friends on the stairs. she was pretty shook up. she said her dad was supposed to be working at one of the towers that morning, but he had delayed his flight to watch our volleyball game the night before, and he was on his way to the airport when he found out what happened.

i don’t remember much from the rest of that day, until we were on the school bus going to the game. someone had a newspaper with details of the day’s events. (i never really thought about this before, but i guess some newspapers re-released their paper mid-day. is this true? i don’t feel like i’m making it up. :)) i remember reading through it, and getting very angry. we were sitting in a little circle, talking about what had happened, and i remember everyone looking at me and me saying that i was mad. i remember the feeling very well…a mix of insecure and scared and upset. living in iowa, my life felt pretty safe, but i feared what this meant for our nation.

i have been intrigued with the events of 9/11 ever since. i’ve seen quite a few movies, specials and documentaries about the attacks and also the many heroic actions. it is so crazy to hear the stories about people whose alarms didn’t go off that morning, and they weren’t at work in the towers when the planes hit. and people who changed their flights to either get on or get off those that were hijacked.

i don’t know anyone personally who was killed in the attacks, or who has been killed in the war events following that dreadful day. but my heart breaks when i hear the stories of men and women in the towers or on flight 93 who called their loved ones at home to say goodbye. i can’t imagine what that must have been like. i pray for peace and healing for us all.