We will Never Forget

I remember everything about this day 15 years ago. I had just started my freshman year of college and was living at home. I came downstairs to eat breakfast and the news was on the TV.  A plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought it was fake, it HAD to be fake. This couldn't possibly be real life. I sat and watched in awe, I was numb from what I was watching. I sat on the couch mesmerized by what was happening. I watched a second plane hit the South Tower. I teared up, but I still didn't think I was watching live tv. My first class of the day started at 9:30am, so I had to make my way to school. I can remember my mom calling my sister. She was living in L.A. and was scheduled to leave on a plane that day to go across the country. I can hear my mom saying, "Do NOT get on a plane today."

I don't even remember driving to school that day, but I made it there. We sat in class, watching the news and watching BOTH Towers crumble. I cried, I don't think I was the only one. About halfway into the class, the school cancelled all classes that day. Because our class met in the rec room of a dorm, we were able to stay and watch the news on the TV. A few of us did. No one really said a word. We just sat there, in shock, saddened, angered, and devastated for what those poor people were going through. 

My dad was in Florida at the time. I was terrified for him to get on a plane. Due to all flights being cancelled, he actually had to stay a few days longer and took the train back to California. 

I am not a 'New Yorker'. I can't even begin to imagine what the experience of the events of September 11th must have been like for those who lived through it, or lost loved ones. I have been lucky enough to have been to New York and Washington, D.C in my young life. I had been to the Pentagon- a humbling experience to see so many high ranking military officials. I had been to the Twin Towers. My sister and I stood on top of the South Tower, on the roof. And now they were gone. And the buildings, planes, destruction took the lives of close to 3,000 people and injured another 6,000. 

The next day, I was walking to a class on my college campus. A few Air National Guard planes flew overhead. Everyone walking stopped to look up. We knew WHERE they were going, we knew WHY they were going. 

The country came together in a patriotic way in the weeks that followed. 'Proud to be an American" and "God Bless America" played on the radio. People placed American flags on their cars, on their shirts and in their yards. In November 2001, Billy Graham had a conference and I was lucky enough to be chosen to sing in the choir for the event. We sang 'Proud to be an American" and we all hugged as now it meant something else. 

This was the first major terrorist attack that my generation experienced (outside of the Oklahoma City Bombing caused by domestic terrorism and a very tragic incident where 168 people including MANY children lost their lives). We were attacked on our own soil, in 4 different locations at once. 

My heart bleeds for those who lost the family or friends on September 11th. For those who had to make and receive awful phone calls to say 'I Love You' one last time. For those who never truly got closure because their loved ones have never been found. For those who were bystanders that day, watching it unfold, hearing the jumpers and covered in the dust of two a 110-story buildings. For those First Responders, HEROS, who went up the stairs while telling others to go down, and never made it back down themselves. 

Today is a day to remember. Remember what happened, remember those lost and remember those still living. I will never forget anything about this day, Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. 

And let us not forget those who sacrificed their lives overseas in the years following this terrible attack.