rc_story20.xml

rc_story20.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2004-01-18

We lived in Washington state, and had to travel to Indiana to attend the funeral of my then-wife's grandmother. We were supposed to leave on September 12, but events of the day dictated otherwise. My watch was set on West Coast time, so my mother-in-law broke the news to us around 6:30, PDT (8:30 Central Time.) We just could not believe what was going on. When we heard that about the plane going down in Pennsylvania, I thought it was unrelated. When the South tower came down, I didn't know it, but seven people who I did business with became "missing." We were horribly gouged, and a lot of people were scared, but we also saw the best of America that day. In fact, my Boy Scout training kicked in that day when I was able to take stock of our situation, what resources we had, and so on. I'd hate to go through that again, but I am glad for my Boy Scout training which helped see us through.

I wanted to give blood, because I have a rare type (AB +), but the place was CROWDED! There were still lines when the place closed for the day. I cried, because it seemed that all of America turned out there in Terre Haute, people flying flags, volunteering to do rescue work in New York, and in general helping each other. I was proud to be an American that day, and have been since.

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