9-11-01

I remember what I was doing exactly eight years ago today. I’m sure you all do. It's right up there with the Challenger explosion for me, and even the start of the Persian Gulf war - the first war to occur in my lifetime, in which I was old enough to know what was going on. Life pretty much came to a halt with the somewhat rude awakening that a terrorist attack of this nature could occur. On our own soil. Eight years ago exactly at this time, I was watching the news and getting ready for work. It was just another day. Eight years ago, and in about a 1/2 hour, that all changed. The breaking news story came on. I was paralyzed in the spot I was standing. Even more so when the second plane hit - and I realized that it wasn't a replay, but another attack. Happening at that moment. Live. Cameron had just turned 1. I was still a new mommy. I was devastated. My first thought was about all those parents that lost a child in that daycare center. All those people that lost a child working in the building. All those people that lost a child on the airplane. Then I started crying. I had only been back to work from maternity leave for a few months and I remember dropping Cameron off at Bryan's aunt's house and how hard it was for me to leave. The third hijacked planed crashed into the Pentagon while I was on the freeway to work. I remember there being a lot of traffic and it moving slowly. People were numb and listening to the radio intently. Nobody at work was even working. There were groups of people all huddled around TVs, computers, radios, whatever they could, just to get some information. And when the last plane crashed, I remember the silence that followed. No phones. No talking, nothing. More numbness. Some people just got up and left. I think I called Sara - again. Just to calm myself. Reassure myself that this was happening at the other end of the country and Cameron was okay. But it didn't matter the distance. We all felt the pain and the shock and the big question of Why? I couldn't wait to go home and see my husband and son.

Some pictures I pulled from the web ...

So in honor of September 11, I just wanted to take a minute and recollect as well as pay tribute to those lives that were lost. Now ... I'm going upstairs to give my baby a kiss, a hug, wake him up for school and thank god that my family is here with me.