By Bonnie Harris
My sister has been working with the Boys Scouts of America and one of the things they talked about this week was what was happened during their birth month and the boys in September struggled with it. They had a hard time remembering what happened beyond saying that 9-11
thing. To me, the best way to remember is to share. So . . .
Ten years ago on September 11th, I had just gotten back from Europe. A bug came back with me and I ended up extremely sick with some type of respiratory thing. On that morning, my mom woke me up to make sure I was still breathing. She helped me to the chair I spent way too long in and the handle to the TV. I was pretty out of it and don't remember my parents and siblings leaving. I vaguely remember pictures and news reports of planes hitting the Twin Towers, but it didn't sink in. I thought it was a movie, a movie that felt very surreal.
Honestly I can't say when it hit me that I wasn't watching a movie. I look back and can still see the Towers collapsing, how unreal it seemed. I remember the sky being very quiet, eerie quiet.Most of my clear memories came from conversations with my parents after the fact. I found out that one of the planes hit the wing of the Pentagon that my uncle worked in. I had a cousin evacuated from the Pentagon at the same time. A friend had been vacationing in New York and we didn't hear from her for a few days. It just seemed . . . the only word I keep coming back to is unreal.
Then in looking up pictures for this post my stomach tightened and I felt a void. But I am thankful for the sacrifice of those many, many people. I feel for the loss of life, I am grateful for a nation that pulled together, and I will remember forever. (Here is the link for the National 9/11 Memorial.) Where were you on that September Day?
We were just starting our day...getting kids off to seminary and school. One of our married daughters called and told us to turn on the television asap. It took us a couple of minutes to figure out what was happening...because "things like that don't happen in real life...at least not here." Unreal, surreal, shocking, sickening, then the emotions of fear, sadness, anger, and so much more. I wanted to keep my kids home. Many people in the West did just that. Everyone I talked to had some kind of connection to someone lost in that attack.
ReplyDeleteJust like Alan's song I was driving alone down an interstate into work listening to a book on tape. It was when I got to work I found out. Then we stayed glued to the TV. That night was an RS meeting I had to teach at. I called and tried to cancel out but they insisted I come. There were only 3 sisters that showed up. I was the fourth. I still feel I should have gone home. As Alan sings it was a time to reach to family.
ReplyDeleteI was in Florida driving to a work training meeting so I was listening to the radio news when the reported the first plane hit. Then they were still trying to figure out what happened and doing a live report when the second plane hit. Then a person came in to our meeting to announce about the Pentagon getting hit.
ReplyDeleteI went home and stayed glued to the TV. Alan Jackson really captured it in his song. I love that song.