UJ: 9/11

It seems bizarre and unreal that it has been two years. How could two years have passed since the terrorist attacks? I can remember clear as day...riding into school with two classmates and hearing what was happening on the radio. It's so bizarre that we were listening to the radio that day, since we usually just chit chat or listen to CDs. We heard about the first plane on the radio and thought it was just some bizarre accident.

And then we heard the reports that the second plane hit the other tower....and as soon as that happened, we all knew this wasn't any accident. It was the strangest thing to sit there and realize this all...and since the US is so media focused, it was strange to just hear it on the radio. We get so used to watching things happen...and instead we just had to listen very clearly on the radio. I feel very grateful that I was not the one driving in that day...since I am not sure how well I would have handled listening to the news and driving into campus.

Once we got to campus....we found a monitor around the corner from our class....and by that time, the Pentagon had been hit as well. I was watching on the monitor and listening to the reports...surrounded by a whole group of students. We were all just sitting there...staring at the TV screen and all of us were thinking, "This can't be real." I think it took me a while...a few days to truly believe it was real. My friends and I all left campus that day and spent the afternoon at one of our friend's house watching the coverage on TV. We unfortunately got to witness the towers falling...and those horrific images over and over again.

It's one of those times when you never forget where you were....what it felt like. And part of me is very happy that my day at work today is going to be very busy. I don't want to be at home and watching the coverage all over again. I want to remember and honor those connected to the attacks, but I also don't want to sit and experience it all over again. In many ways, I really find comfort in that most of the day is going to just feel like a normal day for me.

I hope everyone is able to find peace on this day...it's a sad day and a nerve racking day, but also a day to celebrate our nation and our strength. I don't celebrate our reaction, mainly militarily...I celebrate how people came together and supported one another. I celebrate how NY went from being the state with attitude...to the state with an undying heart. I celebrate how people truly took this tragedy and from it...were brought to help others in a way they hadn't before. To me...that is the gift of all this. This nation....for what seemed like only a brief time...pulled together, instead of the constant pulling apart. That is what I plan on remembering and celebrating on each and every anniversary of September 11th.

*sighs*

Shelley