story10248.xml

story10248.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-09

I will always think about school buses when I remember 9/11/01: big, yellow school buses, and happy, oblivious children. It was a beautiful Boulder, Colorado morning and I was up at seven, getting my son ready for school. The television was on kids stuff so I didn?t hear the news until I was driving him to school. At first I flipped through the channels until I realized there was no music; it was all news. That?s when I heard about the WTC. We were two hours behind so it had already happened, and the funny thing was no one was saying anything about terrorists. I was thinking, what an awful coincidence. I think I was just so secure in the fact that America does not have terrorist attacks. We are safe here.
As soon as I dropped my little boy at school, (it?s a good thing I didn?t hear terrorists, or I would have taken him straight home) I rushed home and woke my husband. He was not normally home at that time, but that day he was sleeping in. From then on we were glued to the television. I honestly cannot say how many times I saw those planes hit those towers but I never got used to it. I don?t think I ever will. We got a wake up call that day. These things were happening all around the world, but we were so insulated here, so safe. Every time I think of 911 I will remember the school buses and the kids. I will think of childhood?s end and innocence lost. I think America grew up that day, and that makes me sad. Growing up can be so hard.