9/11 ten years later

Today is a day of remembering the horrific events of September 11, 2001. I remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning and I had taken the kids to school. Callie was only in Second Grade. Caitlin was in Eighth Grade. I was in the kitchen making coffee and Manuel was sitting on the love seat watching the news, Diane Sawyer was talking. There was breaking news from New York City and there was a picture of the World Trade Center with black smoke billowing out of it. There was talk that a plane hit it. Was this and accident? How could this happen? I kept telling Manuel, something isn't right, this has to be terrorism. I was pouring coffee and was bringing it to Manuel when I heard him say "uuuhhhh", like he were punched in the stomach, and I looked up to see a jet plane going into the second tower!! It was unbelievable. It has to be that we are under attack. We were glued to the t.v. Unfortunately, people were jumping out of buildings, how desperate they must have been to do this. People on the streets standing paralysed with fear and disbelief. President Bush was in Sarasota, Florida, just an hour north of us, at an elementary school reading to the children. Someone whispered in the Presidents ear, he kept very composed, but you could see the concern in his eyes. He finished up quickly with the children, wanting to protect them and not scare them; and then he gave a brief news conference to the nation, and then was off to the airport. Flying for hours.

As the morning progressed there was more devastation. Tower 2 collapsed, a sky scrapper over 100 stories high collapsed in to ruble!!! The dust was unbelievable, then Tower 1 crumple with massive dust down many streets with people running and the dust cloud chasing them. Building 7 of the World Trade Center went. There was a plane that flew into the Pentagon! There was another plan that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the passengers on that plane (flight 93) knew of the attacks and overtook the hi-jackers. Real American Heros that lost their lives.

How many other places where targeted? Some of these terrorists were taking flying lessons in Venice, Florida. Interesting that they skipped the class on landing the plane....obviously this was planned for quite sometime.

It was the worst of days, it was the best of days. So many people in the devastation were willing to reach out and help a stranger, and the country pulled together, how we could us that today...pulled together as one nation, under God!!!

9/11 stays with us, and has caused many changes in getting on an airplane. I flew a few weeks later to Ohio with friends, many people just wouldn't fly....I saw the 9/11 flag when it was brought into the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah....I visited briefly ground zero on a cold, rainy, windy day in December 2007, work was progressing on the memorial.....ours lives have been changed forever.

May God Bless America!!!