My September 11 story

Being on the West coast and sound asleep at the time, I had no idea what was transpiring on the other side of our country. A phone call woke me up. It was my sister in Atlanta, GA.

She said "Turn on your TV! Turn on your TV!"

The panic in her voice had me leaping out of my bed, not even pausing to get my glasses so I could even see the TV. I turned it on, watching the coverage about the first plane, standing there with my mouth wide open. My sister said, "A plane just flew into the Twin Towers". A million questions jumped into my mind: "Why?", "Was something wrong with the pilot?", "How could he not see the Towers!" My sister said no one knew what happened or why the plane flew into the building. Then as we are watching the news, we see the second plane. I can still hear the reporter. "Oh, My God". I can't believe my eyes. I hang up with my sister and my husband and I just stand there watching the TV. The kids woke us up out of our daze.

Kristin was only 5 at the time and Ian was 3. We did not want the kids to see this! We sent them off to get ready for school, while Tim and I hurried through our routine, but we had turned the TV up so we could still hear. We both had to go to work. I remember listening to the radio all the way to work. The kids and I were headed to the Montessori school. They to their classes, me, to my toddler class. The teachers and staff couldn't talk about anything else, but we had several little preschoolers and toddlers on their way and we had to focus on them. We wanted to protect the children from what was happening, so we decided not to talk about it at work. Most of the children stayed home with their parents. The parents were probably glued to the TV just like we were that day and for many days afterwards. I remember some of our toddler parents decided not to come back. They said, "They (the children) are so little, I want to keep them with me". I don't blame them. I wanted my children close to me too.

As time went by, more and more stories came out, of people who didn't make it, of those who were able to get out, and of those who by the Grace of God, didn't make it into work. We have a friend who worked with Tom Burnett. He was one of the passengers aboard flight #93, who decided to wrest away the controls from the terroists. He left behind a wife and three young daughters. A friend of my mother's whose son worked at the WTC, over slept and thankfully didn't make into work. There were so many stories. We watched the news for days and days. We tried to protect the children from the news as much as possible. They were much too young to hear about the evil in the world. Kristin heard anyways and many days later asked about the planes. I don't even remember what I said, but I wanted to assure her that she was safe. She still remembers though and observes the moments of silence on each anniversary of the attacks.

I remember and I will never forget! My heart and prayers go out to all of those who lost friends and loved ones that day.

For more September 11 posts, please go to Rocks in my dryer