Remembering September 11th

I was going to make commerative post on September 11th, but as we learned on that horrible day, sometimes life changes your plans. Sometimes things change quickly. But the most important bit: Life goes on around us no matter what happenes or what we thought we were going to do.


So I am a bit late, but I truly believe this is a day worth thinking about. (I hate to use the word "remember" because of all the "slogans" about remembering 9/11. How could we ever, ever forget? But remembering is what we must do.) We should remember the lives that were lost. We should remember those that lost someone they loved. We should remember everyone that went to help. We should remember how we felt that day. We should think about the horrible things human beings can and will do to each other. We should remember how it affected us as a country, but more importantly how we came together and stood tall where the towers fell. We should remember those from other countries that reached out both physically and emotionally to support us.


The day started off unusually for me anyway. I was obviously much younger then. It was rare for me to be up early in those days, and if I was up early, it was very unlikely that I would be watching the news. Well, actually I was watching The Today Show. 

My dad was outside working on his car. Mom hadn't returned yet from taking my sister to school. I was standing in the living room in front of the tv. Matt Lauer was talking about something - I have no idea what now - when there was a typical interruption when "Breaking News" happens. Matt announced that a plane had hit one of the towers.


I remember thinking that was crazy and wondering if something happened to the pilot or in "the tower" or...I had no idea. I went outside to tell my dad about it. Went back inside to watch some more when they announced the 2nd plane hitting. By that time they had video to accomany the story and there was talk of terrorism.


Mom and I had already had plans that day to go shopping. It wasn't "fun" shopping or I believe we would have cancelled it. Once again, life moves on even when the worst things happen. But  there were things I needed to get, so we decided we'd go ahead and go. Stores were close to empty that day and the people that were there looked shell-shocked. A lot of almost vacant looks. No one really acknowledged each other or if they did speak, it was about the horrors we'd all seen or heard about that day. People were lost in their own thoughts. There was none of the usual energy you percieve in a store or place containing people. It was so still. Life slowed, but kept moving on.