I Remember

I am not a terribly sentimental person, and even though I had realized that today would be the ten year anniversary of 9/11, I just hadn't given it too much thought. Until this morning. It is really hard to wrap my brain around the fact that it has been 10 years since those planes crashed into those towers and the world changed so much.

I remember that I was a sophomore at College of Charleston and I spent the morning getting ready to go downtown to class. Being a 19 year old girl whose biggest worry was what was on my social agenda for the night I was not getting ready with the TV on or anything. No news playing in the background and I was completely oblivious to what had happened to that first tower in NYC. I remember getting a phone call from my friend Julie while I was putting on make- up in my bathroom. She called about something else and as an afterthought, as we were hanging up, she told me she was pretty sure that some plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Now, I apologize ahead of time Julie, but this is what I thought... Right Julie. I think you are confused about what the Pentagon is. I mean a plane would not have done that. I literally laughed off her statement - chalking it up to another Julie is confused moment.

In the car I heard about the tower on the radio. Then I knew she was correct. And as I drove into my parking garage I think I heard about the second tower. The most powerful thing about that morning for me was this.... There was an incredibly unusual feeling in the air as I walked the streets of downtown. It was the kind of energy I hope I never experience again in my lifetime. The kind of energy that makes your hair stand on end because you know that something big is going down. Something that will affect everybody. My college campus was literally buzzing with the news and I remember how we were all pretty pissed off when my math teacher came into class, turned off the TV, and proceeded to teach math.

The rest is history. Days and days of watching the news coverage. Feeling the country basically shut down. Everybody's rage and sadness, and the one positive consequence of feeling a country united. And then, over the years, watching it all gradually fade into the background of my everyday life. It is crazy to me that I experienced such a thing. That one day Noah will probably come to me with a school assignment entitled "Where Were You on Sept. 11th?" One thing is for sure. I will be able to tell him because it is a thing you can never forget.