Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning…..9/11
On September 11, 2001 I woke and moved about my day as any other day. My husband Joey was home because our then just turned 2 year old had her yearly check up at the doctor. She asked me to turn on the television for her while we were getting ready. What I would find was like nothing I could have imagined.
Joey was in the shower when I yelled in, “Where is the World Trade Center?” He replied that it was in NYC. I proceeded to tell him a plane had hit one of the buildings there, and that they were showing it on the television. From that moment on we were riveted to the television. We left home to head to the pediatrician’s office, to find they were watching there as well.
The rest of the day is a blur to me, and so are the following days, and weeks. Here are the bullet points of what does stick out in my memory:
- I sat riveted to the television day after day
- I was one of the crazy, scared, anxiety ridden people that ran out and stocked up on plastic sheeting and duct tape when people were advised to
- When planes starting flying over head again I flinched at every one, and still to this day feel anxious when I hear a plane overhead
- More than once the building where Joey worked in downtown Rochester was evacuated in the time surrounding the attacks
- I finally had to turn the television off and try to start living again when my 2 year old was having nightmares and worrying about the buildings around us falling down. She would say, “The building, the building, it’s falling down!”
That 2 year old is now 12, on this the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, we sat together and watched the original coverage from that day. She was emotional about it yet again. Although in an older, I understand more of the impact of this, kind of way. It was emotional to relive. Our hearts and prayers are with all of those who have a direct connection to the events on 9/11. It will truly be with us forever.
September 14, 2011 @ 10:10 am
With tragedys like 9/11 you never forget where you were and some of your thoughts and feelings at the time.
I was working at the Brockport High School when someone came into the classroom saying, “the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane.” As soon as possible many of us were looking at the television in disbelief at the incredible damage, fire, along with seeing people jumping. Then the unthinkable happened; one of the towers fell straight down. With something this horrific your mind doesn’t quite want to accept what it is seeing. You think to yourself, “did I just see what I saw; did this really happen?” And just when you think you have seen the worst, the other tower fell.
We all felt dazed and shocked watching it unfold on the television. It’s too bad that it takes tragedy’s like this to cause us as a nation to reflect and put a face on what is truly important. Literally out of the ashes of 9/11 people started praying, going back to church, and flying the American flag everywhere. Suddenly it was politically correct to pray out loud and Americans raised the banner of patriotism.
I am astutely reminded of 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Like my daughter, my heart goes out to all those whose lives were personally affected and forever changed by 9/11. While they will never forget the losses and sacrifices; Father God, I pray for a miraculous healing of their hearts, minds and souls.