story4247.xml

story4247.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was at work in a county office building when I head the news. The only thing I could think of was getting home to my not even one year old son. The usual commute to my office from my home was ten minutes if that and when we were released from the building early it took almost 45 minutes to get home. My sons birthday is on the 23rd of September. I went from a happy mother planning a one year old party to a mother who started to worry about her child's future. I just remember thinking why couldnt my son get past his first birthday without having to worry about war. This changed my whole life. This is a tragedy that hit very close to home for me. It made me think that it CAN happen to us. I remember hearing stories and chatter in the office before leaving about how someone's husband was supposed to be in New York that day at the World Trade Center but decided not to go. Its things like this that you here that makes you wonder why are some spared in a coincidence like that one. I did not know anyone personally involved but this incident touched me like nothing else before and it even took me awhile to get over it. All I wanted to do was hold my son forever and help those who were in need. I recently saw a poll on CNN.com that was asking should September 11th be a national memorial day. And surprisely most people said no because it is a reminder of terror. I voted yes because it reminds us that this has happened right hear in the U.S. and when I saw all the flags flying the day after the attacks I had a sense of a nation that can really come together in a time like this. I felt uniformed with the entire nation. You dont see things like this in every day life. It seems everyone is out for themselves all the time. But when I realized how many people were remembering that day, I felt that all Americans were working together instead of against each other. So to me this day is a reminder of faith in the nation and that when times get tough we can be there for each other and we will take the time to remeber all of those innocent people who lost there lives just because of some coincidence that left them in the situation without choice.