9-11

Eight years ago today, we Americans were still reeling from the devastating attacks that had occured the day before. We were scared and confused. Are more attacks coming? How many are dead? How could this have happened to America? Those were things I remember thinking.

Even though I was only nine years old, the morning of 9-11 is one of my clearest childhood memories. My mom woke me up that morning, as she normally did. She was crying, and I thought that maybe a relative had died. I think I remember her telling me that I needed to see what was on TV. When I got to the living room, I couldn't believe what I saw on the screen. One of the Twin Towers was burning. A plane had crashed into it, the newscasters were saying. I asked my mom if it was an accident, and she didn't know. The people on the news didn't seem to know either. We got a call from Aunt Carol, and I got to talk to her. She told us we needed to turn on the TV right now. I told her we were already watching it, and asked her if she thought it was an accident. That was about the time the second plane crashed into the second tower. That's when we knew that it was no accident.

I remember spending that whole morning transfixed by what was happening on that TV, tears running down my face; and horrified when the first, then the second tower collapsed. It was only later that day that I found out that people had been jumping out of windows in order to escape the fire.

Even today, just thinking about that morning brings tears to my eyes. So many people died that day, and so many others lost their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, and friends. I still pray for those families. I also pray that we will never forget that day, which started as a beautiful Tuesday morning, but ended up changing America as we knew it.