story5879.xml

story5879.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I woke as usual on a school morning at 6:30. My alarm clock beside the bed went off and shortly thereafter the television in the living room came on as I have the alarm set on it as a back up. I walked past the television on my way to my daughter's bedroom. Calie and Aubrie were still asleep, but I wasn't much more alert because I didn't even notice the television when I walked past it. I try to have it set for the Today Show to come on, and it was, but I hadn't noticed anything unusual when I walked past. I got my daughter's moving and came out to check the news. The first tower had already been hit, but Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were not sure what exactly had happened and were still under the assumption that it had been an accident.
I called for my daughters to come out and see the news. Calie was 9, and Aubrie was 6. As they dressed in front of the television we talked about what might have happened. It was then that the second plane hit. We screamed. We were dumbstruck, we couldn't even begin to comprehend what this meant, but we were glued to the television just the same. Before the second tower fell I'd had put my daughter's on the bus to school but they had not yet arrived, and was getting my son Jeremy, age 1, out of bed. When the first tower collasped I held my breath for what seemed like forever. Physically I felt as if I couldn't breath. I really could not fathom what I had seen. I never thought that the buildings could be brought down. It was completely unimaginable. I felt the unbareable loss of life in my soul and I wept for the families whose lives were forever touched and altered. I was in a state of shock for the rest of the day. Every time I saw the image on televison, of the buildings collaspsing, I was in awe all over again. I needed to see it over and over again so I could begin to wrap my brain around this new reality. When my daughter's got to school the staff tried hard to make things as normal as possible. Aubrie in the first grade saw very little television and her day was fairly normal. Calie in the forth grade had the television on all day, and watched as the event's unfolded. Her teacher, Mr. Haase, thought this was an important day in our nation's history and they should see it all.

As a forth grader in the 70's I remember my father sitting me down at the radio to listen as then preisdent Nixon made his final speech before he boarded the helicopter that took him away from Washington D.C. I felt ashamed of our country and our leadership. My father was right I was listening to a part of our history. I hope my daughter's will remember September 11, 2001, with pride and sadness, strength and resolve.

Our every day lives have changed very little, way out here in the west...in a small town with just over 500 people, but our hearts will never be the same. We are not weak or broken for we have found a strength as a nation, as a people, as Americans, that we never knew we had. Even way out here I felt a "togetherness" I have never before experienced as a citizen. We have felt what it means to be American and how priviledged we all are to live in this great country. Even with all of our problems I would not want to live any place else but here and I would give my life to serve and protect the rights of my children and their children's children.

My father, a 22 year Air Force veteren, was buried in Arlington this past spring and I have never felt so proud and patriotic. I used to look at the many graves in Arlington and feel it was such a waste of potential, but now I know those men and women gave their lives for a higher purpose that is bigger than each of us as individuals but not as a nation.