A Day to Remember
We left New York today for the little Westchester County Municipal Airport. Compared to JFK and La Guardia Airports, Westchester was a little slice of heaven. September 11, 2001 was on my mind and flying out of New York was on my mind.
I remember September 11th. I was in my second year of grad school in International Relations. I remember I had been up late that night writing a paper on something that is not even important now, that had in seconds become meaningless garbage that did not apply to our world turned upside down.
I remember the phone call that morning. It was my mom that first called to ask if I had my T.V. on. I could hear in her voice that something was not right. I asked her, “Is everything okay?” I remember her telling me, “LAURA, they attacking us! They bombed us.” I remember the sick, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, stumbling to turn the T.V. on, and wondering who THEY are and what happened? Was everyone okay? Had something happened to my family? What had happened? I remember telling her, “WHAT? WHAT happened? Just tell me!” I remember her stumbling on her words, not knowing herself what had happened, how to describe it, and if we would survive.
…and then, I saw the images on T.V. The first tower had just fallen. I remember the smoke billowing from the towers, the panic in everyone’s voices on T.V., still not sure what had happened or WHY? WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING? Then, the second tower fell and it seemed like seconds later, they were talking about the White House? the Pentagon? There was another plane “missing.” What in God’s name was going on? I remember for a second thinking, “Is this it? Is this Armageddon?” News soon arrived that the fourth plane had crashed. I cried that day and many days after. It just seemed like everything in my mundane life did not matter anymore and really, how could it matter? People lost their lives and their family members and friends lost their loved ones, people lost their hope in humanity; people lost their belief in their safety. People lost their security in travel. People felt insecure about everything they once took for granted. A part of everyone died that day, because it touched us all in so many ways. In a lot of ways, none of us will ever be the same.
Like everyone else, I mourned September 11 for many, many months, even years later, and it still touches me. Those images evoke emotions I cannot describe. It was a day that I will never forget. It still brings pain, tears, and a sense of loss, even though I had never been to New York before then, and even though I had very little knowledge about the World Trade Center. Sure, I had heard of it, but I did not have a great grasp on what it was. I only knew that innocent people died and they did not even know it was coming. I remember the images of people posting pictures, “Have you seen this person,” and the hope that was dashed when their lifeless bodies were identified, or they never came home. How could you not be affected by those images?
God bless America. God bless all those that have lost someone on such a significant day. Thank God for all the life we have to live. Truly, we were blessed this day!
Wow, you definitely have a way with words. Thanks for sharing.