nmah207.xml

nmah207.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

That Tuesday started out like any other Tuesday. I'm a sheet metal worker and was working at a doctor's office close to downtown Springfield, Illinois, finishing up the job by putting registers in the ceiling. I went out to the truck to get some material, and when I came back in, one of the ceiling guys asked me, "Did you hear what just happened in New York and Washington, DC?" When he filled me in, I knew immediately that the United States was under some kind of attack.

We all stopped what we were doing and huddled around a radio a nurse had brought in, still not believing the horror of what we were hearing. How could this be happening, and where would it occur next? It was then that it dawned on us that state capitals might possibly be on someone's list somewhere and perhaps the entire country was in danger.

The irony of this situation is that my husband and I were scheduled to fly to San Diego early on the morning of September 12 to witness his son (my stepson of course) graduate from United States Marine Corps boot camp. I was supposed to take off from work early to go and get some traveler's checks.

Needless to say, I took off early that day anyway, but it wasn't to get on any planes. Instead a bunch of our friends met at one of our watering holes and we watched the whole thing unfold on big screen tvs that normally show sports programs. Would that that was what was on them that day! After trying unsuccessfully to deaden the pain at the bar, we went home and turned on the television there, hoping that in the time it took us to get home, we'd wake up and find it was all a horrible nightmare.

It has changed for me emotionally and to a great extent. September 11th has even been in my dreams. I have been more aware of the people and events around me and also fight depression on a daily basis. On the other hand, my priorities have changed, too, and I try to live every day as if it were my last. I also give thanks for every day, and sometimes go out at night and look at the stars and say it out loud.

The only thing that the people who were killed did wrong was to show up for work and go about their daily routines. We need to remember them and those they left behind.

The mail box is adorned with three American flags, and we have several in our yard. I also put in a red, white and blue flower garden this year and two flags in it.

I put an American flag on my work truck and my personal vehicle. The one on my personal vehicle is a little ragged (I have a new one ready to put in its place), but it reminds me of the flag they found in the World Trade Center ruins, and IT IS STILL FLYING! I believe I'll wait until this September 11th to replace it.