story20675.xml

story20675.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-11

On that day in 2001, I was teaching a classroom full of first graders. I had just taken them to their music class and was walking down the hall when another teacher pulled me into her room and said, you have got to see this. For some reason, she had her TV on while her class had gone to their special. We saw the smoke and then we saw the second plane hit. As the morning went on, the teachers would whisper to each other in the hall the latest news. I decided to tell my class what had happened in so many words. I told them some bad people had caught some buildings on fire in NYC. I pulled down the map and showed them where that was. I was going to leave the details for the parents to explain to them, that was for them to share and help their children understand, not me. They would have all heard it by the time school started the next day anyway. I will never forget the worried little faces on those children.

Now, the kids in my class were barly even born on that day, some of them have no idea what happened.

So, I sit here on the fifth anniversary after just having shipped my husband off this morning to his first deployment for a year to the middle east. Remembering that day and remembering why he has gone to serve his country. Everyone says, oh what a day to go. I say, it reminds us why he is going and leave it at that. That really makes someone think. So, here I sit, thinking about the huge chore ahead of me, the kids, thinking of him, the first time to leave home for over 2 weeks, and this time it is a year! I think about all of those families who lost loved ones and won't get them back, in even a year. I thank them for being strong and for their sacrafice.

Remember, everything happens for a reason and in it's own time.