Ten years ago I was in a doctor’s office with a broken foot. I got out of the examining room and heard that a plane had hit the one of the Twin Towers. I got in my car and went to work thinking about what a crazy thing that was to have happened.
When I got to my office, I knew I had missed something major. Not a soul was at their desk. Everyone was in the conference room watching the television. The second plane had hit.
No one could believe it. We all just stared at the screen watching the events unfold.
I went back to my desk to turn my computer on. A few minutes later, I heard a loud gasp from my manager’s office.
“The Pentagon’s been hit! The Pentagon’s been hit”
It was clear this was going to be a day unlike any other I’d ever experienced.
I called my grandmother who lives in DC. All lines were busy.
I called my mother.
I called my boyfriend (now husband).
The entire office was either glued to their computer checking for updates or milling around the conference room watching this catastrophe continue before our eyes. What could possibly be next?
Then the unthinkable happened. We saw the shaking of the building, then lots of dust. Realization sunk in.
It’s going to fall.
I will never forget the pit in my stomach as we watched the first tower disintegrate. I still feel it now was I type this.
The silence was deafening.
At least… I think it was silent. I was outside my own body. Watching. Just watching. I couldn’t see.
Tears blurred my vision. It was simply incomprehensible…the complete insanity of the entire situation.
How could something like this happen?
****
Here we are ten years later and I still have that exact same question.
My life pre 9/11 was one of ignorance.
Today I simply pray for those whose lives were lost, for those who continue living with memories of loved ones etched upon their hearts, and for our nation…that we never see the likes of that again. Before I worried for myself, for my family. Today it’s the same but different. I’m a parent now. My children are everything.
I want better for them.
I pray that they can live their lives without fear or terror of that callibre.
In fact, I hope and pray that for all of us.
Leave a Reply