Everyone remembers this day. Everyone.
And I am no different. It is so clear in my mind that I swear my heart skips a beat and the hairs stand on end on my arms everytime I think of it.
September 11, 2001.
I am not one of those people that gets tired of hearing about it. I don't change the channel during the tributes.
It really is a day that changed America. We will never again feel the cozy security of our borders or the superior arrogance of our name.
The United States was attacked.
And on that day, we lost so many wonderful people and they were no different than you and me.
My story...
I had just finished college at The University of Austin and had taken a summer job as an apartment locator so that I could make my own schedule and play as much as I wanted until moving truly in the "real world".
We had been up late like 22 year old's are and I had slept until around noon that next day. I would always put my phone on silent so I could sleep late. Of course, I didn't want to be disturbed. I was in dreamland and I was as happy as a clam.
I reach over for the cell phone after finally opening my eyes to see 16 missed calls and 13 messages.
What the heck?
And when I look to see who it is, it's everyone. My mother, my sister, my roommates. And so I press the green button to listen... What is the world is everyone calling about?
Then the messages start -
"Jennifer, are you ok? Are you watching?"
" Jennifer, OMG; call me. Can you believe this?"
And of course they go on and on....
I hung up and turned on the TV.
By this time, it was afternoon and the news reporters had all gotten the playbacks in order, the planes had already hit, the towers had fallen. It was chaos.
I didn't understand what was happening. All I saw was buildings burning, people running and tears. So many tears....
I thought the world was coming to an end. It took me a good few hours and many phone calls to come out of a complete panic. And it took a number of weeks before coming out from the continuous brink of tears.
I still think of those mothers and fathers that are childless, no matter how old their babies were. Or I think of the spouses who are no longer able to hold the love of their life's hand.
I think of those poor citizens just walking the streets of New York City that had to watch their fellow man jump from windows. I think of the bravest firefighters that went into those buildings know that knew they would probably never come out. And finally, I think of the men, women and children on Flight 93 that fought the evil terrorists to save thousands more.
Hero's.
True Hero's.
Thank you to every man and woman involved from that day up until now fighting for our country's freedom. Thank you for keeping me and my babies safe. Thank you to those that sacrifice every day to make sure I don't have to.
God Bless America.
Bradyn Poppins...
9 years ago
3 comments:
Wow. We all have memories that will NEVER FADE. I was asleep, and my daughter was driving to work near the John Wayne airport in costa mesa ca. She called to ask me what was happening, she heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the twin tower. I told her it was probably a thing like the "war of the worlds" radio broadcast. She cried and screamed at me to turn on the TV. Worst day of my life. I was tranfixed for hours, frozen inside and unable to think or make a rational decision. I filled up all our cars with gas and did not go to work, since my job was next to Seal Beach Naval Weapons. In CA we have some significant "targets", and we heard there was a plane in route to LA. Did not know what to do, other than watch TV and pray. businesses all over OC and LA closed and sent people home. A
After all airtraffic was ceased, we realized just how much ambiant noise is caused by all the aircraft in our skys. I still look up everytime I hear a plane, and say a prayer for our safety. We live where we see traffic from SNA, LAX, ONT, and Corona and Fullerton Muni airports. LOTS of traffic, we realized when they stopped flying.
It was a truly horrible day. I was at work when our phones started ringing with friends, relatives and work associates calling to see if we had heard. The radio was turned on and turned up (a rarity in our office) and we were all transfixed by the events being reported. Everyone I saw in the streets on my way home had this dazed look in their eyes like they didn't quite know what to say or do and our daily newspaper put out a special afternoon edition (never happens) which they gave away free on the street corners downtown. Being Canadian, we don't have the same slant of patriotism that colours your emotions but we were no less moved to tears by the horrible carnage on our tv screens. 9/11 wasn't just an American tragedy but a human one that everyone in the world felt that day and in the weeks and years that followed. My heart goes out to all the families who still suffer the grief of losing their loved ones that day.
Great post!
Post a Comment