I Really HATE September 11th

September 11, 2001 was the day life changed in America FOREVER. It was a Tuesday. I remember that because back then, I only worked on Tuesdays. I waited most of the morning for word about classes. I really didn't know if we'd have class or not. Ends up that we did. Anyway, that morning, I got up and turned on the TV, as I usually did, to watch "Good Morning America." The coverage began soon after I turned on the TV. I couldn't believe it. Rather than shield everyone in the house from what was going on, I left the TV on. Maybe I shouldn't have. Kamiko was 8, Allie was 5 and Melia was 2. I know of people who turned theirs off. I guess I just had to see what was happening. Tower one was hit. Tower two was hit.

This was obviously not an accident. One tower fell, another fell. I don't remember the timeline. It was probably within a couple of hours. The images of the towers on fire, then falling, were horrible.

I had been there in 1981. I had been to the top of the towers. Because I'm afraid of heights, I walked on the interior of the observation floor. I only approached a window once. I did want to see the view from that high just once...while I was there.

I can't imagine how scary it must have been to live in NYC at the time. My friend, Liz Kenney, who lives in Brooklyn, was working not far from the towers. In fact, she told me when we visited her about that day. She was in her office, the top floor of a 5-story building. She had a skylight over her desk. She saw the shadow of a plane go over her desk and thought that was odd. She knew something was wrong to have such a low-flying plane. They heard the first hit and went to the top of their building to see what was going on. She expressed to her boss that they should go immediately to the store to buy water, food, contact solution, etc. That this was a bad thing and they may be stuck at work for a long time. She asked him how much cash he had. He kinda dismissed her. She was insistent. Then, the manager came in. He had come from the financial district before things got bad. He immediately asked how much cash they had and confirmed what Liz said. As it happened, they did get supplies, but were able to go home that night. They were prepared, just in case, though. She said it was surreal to have debris found in their neighborhood...mail, papers, etc., and to see memorials pop up in the neighborhood for those who died. What a tragedy for a city to go through.

When the towers were on fire, I guess it was evident to those on top floors that they wouldn't make it out alive. Some chose to jump, instead of waiting for their death. Sorry to post such disturbing photos, but a lot of people have forgotten what really happened on this day. Some younger kids haven't seen video of the attacks. A couple of years ago, we were driving by a place in Draper where they always place hundreds of flags as a memorial. I commented that if we looked, we might see if they were setting up the flags for 9/11. Melia's friend asked "What's 9/11?" Americans need to know and remember what 9/11 is. On our calendars, it's called "Patriot Day." I still think of it as 9/11.

Under President George Bush's and NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's leadership, Americans really came together for a while. For me, and probably for a lot of people, there was hope that life might "get back to normal." I hoped this was a blip - although awful - in our history. Well, 12 years later, it's obvious that this was a changing point in our history. We have terrorists now. They are an everyday part of our nation's concerns. We have warnings. There are unsafe parts of the world and everyone knows about them now. It's a different country and world now. That's why I hate September 11.

First Responders place flag on pole that survived the attacks

I taught lecture on the 11th this week. I got to work and Starlyn had on her patriotic apron. She wore red, white and blue. She said she made sure her kids did, too. I need to do that. It would help make it a better day.