story9420.xml

story9420.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-08-15

I will never forget that day. I remember every aspect about it as if it were yesterday. It began just any other ordinary day. My morning routine back in high school was to wake up around 7:00, take a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed and leave to school around 8:00. This day was no different. I had band first period and would usually arrive there early (class began at 8:30) to get my instrument ready, music, stand, say hi to friends, etc. It was football season and at that time of year instead of sitting down we would stand around in a huge circle. My director then stepped in and stood in the middle of the circle like usual. He popped a queston to everyone asking "How long do we have to live?" And from that point I knew something bad had happened because whenever someone would pass away he would always begin by asking that question. He then proceeded by saying "We must cherish every moment of our lives because we have no idea when we're gonna die.....because this morning, I dont know if and of you'all have heard, but some sort of missle hit the world trade center in New York". Remember, at that time I had no idea what was going on, probably 98 percent of the rest of the band also. So once he made that announcement, I really didnt react that much. I compare it to planting a seed. When it is first planted nothing happens until time passes. So we all proceeded by having rehearsal, nothing out or the ordinary. But for some reason I had this tiny feeling inside of me that somehow changed my mood. It wasnt until the bell had rang to go to second period. I always walked my best "female friend" to class and thats when she started telling me. "Hey did you hear what happened?" I was like..."yeah, some missle hit the world trade center right?" She replied, "No, two airplanes ran into it, they also hit the Pentagon, its being called a terrorist attack, and it is believed that there are other planes still in the air." From then on I was in some sort of a daze. No immediate tears, hysterical reaction, just kind of a bad feeling brewing inside me. Once I got to class, the television was tuned to CBS. I sat, watched the news along with the rest of the class and my teacher. Dan Rather kept recaping the event while video clips of the planes crashing into the WTC kept playing. He also kept repeating that the towers had collapsed. At that time I turned to my teacher and asked in awe "Both towers collapsed?" He nodded yes. Then thats when everything hit me. I was speechless, I had begin realizing what was happening. Everyone in the class looked scared. Some of the girls even gasped when they saw the planes crash and when they showed people jumping. I was silent. It was almost like a bad dream, or watching a scary movie. I kept saying..."how could people do this? Why?" I was so confused. At that time my dad was on a business trip to Dallas for a few days. I just wanted him to come home, but he couldnt return home until many days later due to the shut down of all the airports. Later on in class, my emotions never hit rock bottum until I saw Tony Blair's press conference on the events. The tears came after I saw him holding back his tears when he said the words "And we will stand with the United States...shoulder to shoulder...until this evil is rid from our world". The rest of the day was a very sad day. I remember that I thought it was soo ironic that it was a very dark, rainy day in Harlingen. Band practice was canceled, and I left home right after school. On the way home I was in disarray. I remember listeing to Michael Jackson's "Rock my World". And as I was driving I felt like i was in a scnene of Ghostbusters at that part where the huge convoy of army, police, firemen, were racing toward the "Haunted Apartement bulding" where Bill Murray says "Come on! lets run some red lights! At that moment i felt the world could be ending and I kept telling myself "We're going to war". As I got home my mom was getting there. She looked sad. She told me her story. She said she wasnt gonna go jogging that evening because she said she didnt feel it was right. She just wanted to stay home, order pizza, and watch the news. So we did just that. That was the worst night of my life.