911 - Never Forget

There are things in our lives that happen and change us forever. September 11, 2001 or as we know it as 9-11 is one of those things.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was the registrar at Wharton High School and guidance was crazy busy with all of the new enrollment packages.

I remember the horror as we watched live TV and saw the second plane crash into the second tower.

I remember the news of the plane that went down as heroic men and women stopped the terrorist from reach that intended target.

I remember the first tower falling to the ground and almost feeling the weight of it with in me. Then the second one fell and no words were spoken around me, only silent tears running down adults and high school student’s faces.

I remember the ash filling the city like a gray snow, covering anything and everything in its path.

I remember the need to hold my children close to me although my daughter was away at college and my son was in middle school.

I remember the pandemonium that began with parents coming to pick up their children (high school children) and take them home.

Everyone knew someone who may have been there and even if they didn’t we all felt pain and loss as we watched people searching for their loved ones. Firefighters, policemen, brave men who wept as one of their own perished.

New York is our city, the very heart of our nation and it had been injured.

Then stories began to be told.

Stories of true hero’s and heroines, who risked their own lives for others. Stories of normal everyday people who believed we are a nation of strength and helped those of us who felt broken believe it too.

Yet will all of the tragedies, I saw a national come together as one. For a time we didn’t worry about the color of someone’s skin, or what their bank account said or for that matter what their religion was/is.

Instead,

We remembered that we are a nation made up of individuals who believe in a common ground.

We remembered that we are ALL American’s and how dare someone do this to us on our soil.

We remembered to hug our kids, kiss our spouses, and wave to our neighbors each morning.

We remembered what it meant to believe in what America stands for.

During the days that followed, we wept as we watched loved ones say farewell to those who had passed on.

BUT…

We also felt a pride of the Red, the White, and Blue and although it hurt to see the very heart of our nation look like a battle zone, we grew, we stood a little taller, and yes we knew that we would never forget.

Thank you to those who gave their lives to save others. Thank you to those whose loved ones gave their lives and may peace fill your life forever.

I’m proud to be an American. We may not be perfect, Lord knows we have our faults, but we are still the greatest nation in the world and I for one am blessed to call America my home.


Vicki

Remembering....

I'm shocked at how I remembered yesterday and yet this morning in all the rush to get ready for work and leave on time, I forgot.

And now I sit here and feel the heaviness of the events that happened seven years ago. Our lives will never be the same. Sure, for many of us, we go about things each day much the same as perhaps we did before 9/11. But for many others, we wake each day to loss and pain of the senselessness of it all.

I remember, like most everyone, where I was seven years ago. I worked at Wharton High School. It was a normal hectic high school morning like every other morning when you work with 9th - 12th graders.

My phone rang and my ex was crying. He asked me if I knew. I thought omg, his mom has passed away. She'd been very sick. But no, as horrible as that would have been, actually was when she did, this was way worse.

The next sound was my Principal screaming No. He quickly called us together. We needed a plan to allow parents to sign out or pick up their children. Yes, at that moment the kids who believe they're grown, where once again children to everyone, including themselves.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse the second plane struck and third plane went down, missing its target, but killing those brave people on board. Tears ran down our faces for people we didn't know and fear filled us as we each tried in vain to reach our own loved ones and friends who might be traveling by air.

Quiet descended on a normally loud group of 2300 students as our Principal spoke to them over the intercom. Anger from students who had no idea how to deal with this. After all they were American and this was the land of the free and the brave. This couldn't happen on our land. But it did.

Now seven years later, we no longer fly with the same ease, we no longer feel like it can never happen to us.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all who lost loved ones and friends and to the those of us who did not lose an actual person, but lost a part of our own freedom. The words We Will Never Forget rings on.

Maybe you're like me, and this morning you didn't watch the news and it slipped your mind for a few hours, but in all honesty, We will Never Forget.

Thank you is not an adequate word to give those who serve our country, our home, and other countries to keep us safe. You're love of this country and the people who most you will never meet is amazing and I for one am humbled by you.

Thank you and God Bless America today and forever.