story6506.xml

story6506.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

September 11, 2001 began as any other day in sunny Southern California. My husband was getting ready for work and I was in the process of getting 2 of our children ready for school. I went downstairs to turn the radio on for some "get up and go" music when I heard Peter Jennings voice. That immediately made my blood run hot and I strained to hear what he was saying with the 4 kids jumping around me. All I heard was "planes hit" and I yelled upstairs to my husband Gary, that something terrible had happened. As I made my way to the television, my initial thought was that something had happened to the President. Jennings voice made it perfectly clear that something grave had taken place. The images that I saw when I turned on the set are burned into my memory. Two huges buildings on fire. I had never seen the Twin Towers besides on movie or television screens, and within two minutes of watching them burn, one of them came down. I began to cry and told my husband that I wanted the kids to stay home with me. Reports of a plane hitting the Pentagon were coming in, it was perfectly clear that America was under attack, and I believe that I was never so frightened in all my life as I was then. Gary thought it was best that the kids go to school as usual. He didn't want them to see anymore than they had. It was probably a good thing, because soon the next tower fell, and the images of people bloodied and covered with soot were coming in. I remember going outside and looking up into the sky and feeling a chill knowing that there were no airplanes in the sky. And one plane was unaccounted for. It was strange and eery. The whole entire day was surreal. The people searching for their loved ones asking for help, showing fliers, giving descriptions...nothing as heartbreaking as that. Picking the kids up at school with all the other moms and dads, we were unusually quiet, a couple of moms hugging and crying. Just days filled with sadness. I have had some losses in my life, events that were tragic and sad, but never has something happened where I truly wished and prayed that it could be taken back. Even now, I tell God how I really wish that this had never happened. It's changed so much, it's changed the world that my children live in. It's made me so extremely proud to be an American. It has made me appreciate my freedom and understand how much of the world despises our freedoms. It's made me want to instill a great sense of patriotism into my children. I will never forget what I saw and felt that day. I became more American, more proud, more a daughter of this great land. More proud of the stars and stripes than ever before.