Where Were You - September 11th, 2001

This morning on my drive into work which quickly went from a nice 35 minute drive to a 1 hour and 35 minute drive due to traffic and accidents I ran across a few flags...

It being September 11th, a day that I hate to have to remember... All things September 11th seriously make me cringe.  I actually watched Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud this weekend and balled my eyes out.  I just hate to remember that tragic day... but we have to.  We must remember!  We must share the stories of the past to enable us to move on and to enable us to get stronger and move forward and remember.

This man stands at this bridge every year for 12 hours on this day.  It's amazing to me.  He waves his flag proudly.  Today I saw people walking up to him and shaking his hand.  Cars from underneath were honking over and over...It was very emotional.  I couldn't believe it.  This is a well travelled road that is always congested which meant that people were parking to then walk up to him to I assume thank him for what he is doing today and what he has done.

I was a senior in high school.

I knew nothing of this sort of things... we didn't know bombings or terror attacks, my generation. 

We were innocent and living with no worries.

Then during my morning Latin class, the Spanish teacher came in and told the teacher to turn on the TV. 

Doc Shorter did just that.

And we saw the burning building.

ISTEP testing was in progress so not all classes could see these images. 

It was sickening.

It was confusing.

It was mesmerizing and terrifying all at the same time.

We weren't sure what we were witnessing at the moment.

We were naive.

This couldn't happen here.  It just couldn't.

Had to have been an accident.

But how?! 

No one said anything.  Even the halls were quiet when changing periods.

Eerie quiet in the halls of a high school which should be erupting with sound.

But that's how I remember.

I was glued to the TV all afternoon and evening.

I can't do it anymore though... I hate to watch the coverage.  I hate to see the buildings fall and the sadness on every one's faces.  It makes me so sad. 

But we can't forget...

The lives lost...

The heroes...

The survivors...

The widowed...

The motherless...

 The fatherless...

We can't forget that day and all that it was.

Moments like this make me smile and tear up. 

Another bridge...Another Soldier(s)

Waving our flag proudly.

All gave some, but some gave all.

We remember.

09.11.01