Never Forget

I can't believe it's already been 9 years.
The first time I'd heard of anything, Brad and I were in our Communications class at the local community college. We'd heard a plane ran into a building in New York, and the comments started flying: "What an idiot!", "How could he have ran into a building??", "Was anyone hurt?"... at that point, none of us knew anything.
During my history class, several people in there were talking about family members in NY and how they hadn't heard from them yet. People started talking about how another plane ran into the building, and there was chaos up there. This is when I realized something was really wrong. I was totally confused, because at this point, there weren't any answers. We let out of class early, and I ran down to the main building where Brad was in the middle of a math exam. In the room across the hall, the staff had set up a small tv for us to watch what was going on.
That's when I first saw the images. The buildings on fire, people panicking, and ash everywhere. It was horrifying. They mentioned it was most likely an attack, not an accident. And then I felt like panicking. Why was Brad taking so freakin long?? As soon as he emerged, I bombarded him with all of this information, showed him the tv, and that's when we decided it'd be best to skip our last class and get out of there.

I called my mom, and she was totally freaked. Apparently, there were security guards searching the campus for me. She asked them to send me home asap. Back then, I thought that was a little much, but now that I'm a mom... I get it. She needed all of her babies together with her. As for Brad, she told him he needed to go help at Ground Zero... hehe just kidding. Brad told me to put that. :)

We rushed home as quickly as we could, sharing our theories and fears. When we arrived at my house, Harrison was sitting in the kitchen in front of the tv, in his pajamas, with an unloaded rifle across his lap. Most 11 year old kids would've been a little freaked, I would think. Heck, I was freaked. But no, my little brother was ready to take on some terrorists. lol. It's no wonder he joined the Army.
My little sister was home, but we refused to tell her what was going on. There was no reason to have a 4 year old freaking out, stealing away her feeling of security, and exposing her to something that would've been way over her head. It just would've resulted in nightmares and panic attacks. She's pretty sensitive about stuff like that.

So that's my story.

I'm so amazed at the men and women who were involved in the rescues, those who sacrificed their lives to  help others that were trapped, and the country in general for pulling together during that time. Whether you agree with what came before or after this event, politically, there's no arguing it was incredible to watch our country come together. People were helpful, sacrificial, and good.

So where were you?