9/11/01

I remember where I was when I found out what happened in on 9/11. I was 16 years old at the time. I had gotten home from Seminary class (seems like another life ago) and I was homeschooled at the time so I went back to sleep. I had just started dating Ben about 9 months earlier and I was having a weird dream that Ben and I were on a plane. I remember the plane had blue colored seats and it was dark. We must have been flying at night. In my dream I told Ben I was scared of plane crashes.



For some reason my dads job at the time meant that he had to drive back past our house at this particular time of the day. My mom and I were snoozing in bed and he runs in the room and says



"Have you heard whats happened? Ive been listening to the radio in my truck."



He turns on the TV and they have been replaying the first explosion. I honestly thought it was a movie. Coming out of my sleepy haze I am thinking he has turned on a movie.....but this TV has no DVD player.



Then all of a sudden the second plane hits. All of us in the room jump. My dad was like



"This is NO accident! This is on purpose."



We all kept watching the screen as the TV reporters slowly started to realize this was an attack and not an accident.



While we were watching it live, they were showing footage of the buildings burning. One of the camera men for the news was zoomed in on the people hanging out the windows for fresh air.



Then one jumped.



The camera mans feed was cut and the news went to another camera mans view point.



Everyone was in absolute shock. That is the only word I can use to describe it. Just shock. Could this really be happening? Why would they attack those buildings??



Everyone knows what happened after that. The pentagon, United 93 the passengers who fought back.



This seriously brings goose bumps to my body just thinking about it. NOTHING and NOBODY has been the same since that day.



I pray for all those family's of loved ones who didn't come home that day. I can't even begin to imagine the pain of that kind of loss, and I honestly I hope I never have to.



The men and women of the NYFD who risked their lives to GO INTO those buildings to save complete strangers lives deserve so much of our gratitude. Everyone realized this and I can remember such an out pouring of support for the NYFD. The firemen always just humbly said



"They were just doing their job."



In the aftermath of it all, the thing that struck me the most was how everyone rallied together in a spirit of patriotism. If anything good came out of this horrible act of terrorism, it would be the common sense of patriotism.



I know that MY personal love for this country grew more that day, and the days following then I ever thought it could. I remember when I moved overseas to Germany, it just so happened that the Summer Olympics were on then. Whenever they would play the United States National Anthem, I would literally cry and cry. I missed my country so much.



I have flown A LOT since 9/11. EVERY single time I get on a plane I think about the passengers of United 93.



Could I be that brave? I hope so.