Is it even seem possible that it's been 10 years since 9/11?? Do you remember exactly where you were, and what you were doing at the time you heard the news?? I remember exactly where I was. I was living in Mt. Dora, Florida, working on the grounds/landscaping crew at Christian Home and Bible School. My roommate was a 5th grade teacher. I recall taking a break, and going up to her room on her planning period, as I did everyday. Little did I know that this day would be completely different than all the other days that I'd gone there. Normally, I would go in her room, we'd talk, or I'd check my email on one of the computers in her room, but this day I walked in her room to find she had the TV on. All I recall is seeing the twin towers on fire. I could not believe my eyes, I remember feeling shock and telling myself, "This can't be real." I just couldn't wrap my mind around what was going on even though I'm seeing it LIVE on TV. I remember sitting in one of those little 5th grade desks (yes, those of you who know me, know I look like a 5th grader, so sitting at their desk is not a problem for me. :-) ), unable to move. I just felt numb. My parents lived in Illinois, and I remember trying to call them. Even though they were in Illinois, and I knew they were safe, I just needed to hear their voice to reassure myself. I remember having a hard time getting through on my cell because all the lines were jammed. When I heard my mom's voice, I just started bawling. Even though I was 28 at the time, mom always knew what to say and how to calm me down, that's just something all moms know how to do. I went home from work that day, and could not tear myself away from the TV. This moment in time was just so surreal to me. Ten years later, I'm finding myself, again, glued to the TV. My eyes are filled with tears just as they were in 2001. My heart aches for the family members who lost husbands, wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, and the children who never knew their fathers. So where were you? I would love to read where you were, and what you were doing when you received the news of this dreadful day, and how you are feeling today as we remember. As for me, I'm kind of feeling "blah" today, but WOW!! I am SO proud to be an American. We are SO blessed to live in this country!! And as for 9/11, may we ALWAYS remember!!! God Bless!
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We were living in Japan at the time and getting ready to move back to the US. We were supposed to fly home on 12 Sept. We were staying in temporary housing as all of our household stuff had been packed up and was already on it's way to the States. Due to the time difference, it was night in Japan and we were repacking our suitcases for our departure the next day. Ben was watching the Today Show on our military channel when the news came on for the first plane that hit. Ben called me to the room and we were glued to the TV. Then we saw the 2nd plane hit and everything that followed that. At some point, can't remember if it was that night or early the next morning for us, we were notified that our flight to the States was cancelled since they had grounded all flights. Our military base in Japan went into lockdown mode. Since we were in temporary housing, we had limited access to phones and we had a very hard time trying to get in touch with our families back in the States. That was a horrible feeling for all of us. Our base stayed in lockdown mode for a couple of days and we were finally able to leave Japan on 15 Sept to fly home. It was such a weird feeling arriving in Seattle to catch our plane to St Louis. The airports were so crowded and everyone seemed a bit on edge. We had flight issues with our dog in Seattle as the door to the cargo area of the plane was too small for her kennel to go through. We had that same issue 4 yrs earlier when we went to Japan and they let Ben go down and take her out of the kennel, take it apart, put it on the plane, back together and then put our dog in there. Needless to say, this was NOT an option flying just 4 days after 9/11. We had to leave our pet at the airport to catch a later flight that was on a bigger plane. That was very hard to do. We were very glad to get to St Louis finally and see family that had come to pick us up. We stayed overnight in St Louis and went back to the airport at the crack of dawn to pick up our dear Molly who came in on the "red eye" flight. The whole process of being overseas and hearing about the attack on our nation, trying to travel home and getting to see our families was very emotional. We were so glad to see them and to just be back on American soil.
Wow, Melanie! Thanks so much for sharing! I think I vaguely remember Melinda talking about this. I would have been "on edge" flying for sure after 9/11. I'm so thankful you all made it home safely, and Molly did, too! :-)
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