It’s September 11, 2013. Twelve Years after our world changed. For the worse. My sweet boys, you’re 7 now, and I still haven’t had to answer any questions from you about this awful event in our history. Thank goodness. Because, I’m still not sure how I will answer or explain any of what happened – from the eyes of your Mom. It won’t be long, maybe later today even, that you come home from school having seen or heard “something” about 9-11-01. I often wonder what the first question will be – and how I’ll answer. You’ll eventually see the photos of the towers burning in NYC. And you’ll hear about “terrorists” and Al Qaeda.
This day in history is famous and is already in the history books. The ones you’ll be studying in a few years. I have such vivid memories of this day and I want to share it with you. Eventually you’ll be old enough to read this and realize that your “old” parents lived through one of the most devastating, sad, horrific days that the US (and world) has ever endured. This event was the first significant “war” like event in my lifetime. Daddy and I were 31 years old. We had been married for almost 6 years. We lived in our first house (townhouse) in Arnold.
It was a beautiful day outside and I had been at work for a
couple of hours. It was 8:46am, when Uncle Toby called me on my office desk
phone and said, get on the internet and look at what has happened at the world
trade center in NYC! A plane just hit
one of the towers! We immediately went
to Yahoo News (that’s where the news came on the internet at that time) and
could see live pictures of what was happening.
Of course, we assumed that a commercial jet had gone off course and run
into the building by accident. We had a
tv in the office (at that time you could use a TV without having a cable hook
up, just antennas) so we all went to the back of the office and turned the TV
on. The news was on and we watched the
first tower on fire and engulfed in smoke. People were running crazy in the
city. News broadcasters were freaking out and nobody knew what had
happened. Within about 15 minutes, a 2nd
plane hit the other tower. At this point, everybody knew that it wasn’t an
“accident”. The fires in the towers were
burning furiously due to the planes jet fuel burning. Obviously, many lives were lost immediately,
and so many in danger. Those towers were icons for business in NYC. Thousands
of people work there every single day.
The tragedy continued to unfold in the following minutes. It was horrifying, yet we couldn’t stop
watching.
The news then reported that there was also a plane crash
into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. And
another in rural PA somewhere. Four
planes had crashed in a span of an hour – our country was obviously under
attack. NYC was in ruins. It was beyond scary. The people in the city
were running for their lives. Not long
after the 2nd plane crashed, the towers started to crumble. Two huge structures, and everyone inside of
them, perished into dust and debris. The
cloud of dust & ash covered the city immediately. For days.
I called Daddy right away and he was downtown Baltimore. I
told him to get out of the city. He had just heard about what happened because
he was in the world trade center replica building in Baltimore and they had
evacuated it immediately. Thank goodness.
He was headed out of the city and going home.
After this time, our cell communication was cut off and we weren’t able
to get in touch. The cell lines were jammed – and overburdened. Nobody could
get calls through to anyone. The
landlines were even too busy to handle the call volume. What a scary feeling.
I was lucky enough to get through to Aunt Courtney in the
first few minutes of the attack to find out if she was ok. At that time, she worked downtown NYC in
another high rise office building. She was several blocks from the world trade
center and was safe. But the city was complete chaos below her. She could see
out her windows. People were scattering to get out of the city. Within about 3 minutes, our phone call was
cut off. All communication in the city was cut off for security reasons. This
was the last time I was able to talk to her for a few days. At least she was
ok.
Everyone in our office was in shock. We stayed and watched
the news for a couple of hours, unable to work or leave the TV. By mid-morning, we made the decision to close
the office and go home to our families for the day. I will never ever forget my drive home that
day. I remember the bright blue sky and
sunshine. And having such a hard time comprehending what was unfolding just a
few hours away. I could not wait to get home. Nobody felt safe – we didn’t know
if the attacks would continue. We didn’t know if we had lost anyone we knew. We
didn’t understand what was happening. Communication with loved ones became
harder and harder. The only seemingly safe place was to be at home.
I spent the entire day and night watching the news coverage
and crying. They were trying desperately to find survivors. Emergency
responders who went into the WTC buildings to rescue people were killed in the
collapse. THOUSANDS of lives were lost – innocent people & emergency
responders. People were flocking out of the city to find safety. Others were
flocking in to the city to find their loved ones. It was absolutely horrible to
watch on tv. But impossible to turn off.
The news coverage and photos were unbelievable. All air traffic in the country was halted
immediately. No more air traffic (planes), and that lasted for about 3 days I
think, maybe longer. Our office is
right next to BWI airport and we were accustomed to hearing airplane traffic
all day. It stopped immediately. People were stranded in airports and cities
where they didn’t live. The air silence was deafening.
This rocked every person I know to the core. Our country was
trying to be strong, but so many hearts were broken. We were scared. Our
President (George Bush) was scared. Our military sprung into immediate action
to protect us. All US armed forces were activated everywhere. It was quickly determined that we had been
attached by Al Qaeda. Terrorists. We were going to war.
It’s now 12 years later, and just thinking of all of this
still makes me cry. It’s hard to comprehend how a group of people could have
done something so evil and horrible. They killed thousands of people. And tried
to crush the American spirit. I’ll never
forget the feeling I had for weeks following this attack - heart break for the families who lost their
loved ones who just went to work that day and never came home; both gratitude
and love for the emergency responder hero’s (and their families) who tirelessly
risked their lives to find survivors and help strangers for weeks on end; anger
at the terrorists who robbed so many people of their freedom, safety and lives;
compassion for our President, who was trying to lead our people through this
uncharted territory; the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything to
help the NYC people since we were so far away; compassion for the wives and
children that lost their Daddy’s and husbands, and finally, intense love for my
family and friends since we were some of the lucky ones that didn’t lose our
lives.
We didn’t know any people directly that were killed, thank
goodness. But we did know some people
who lost friends and family members. Aunt Tracey lost a dear friend who worked
in Tower 1. A work colleague of Grampy’s was in one of the towers and was
killed.
War was now imminent. Our military sent people to hunt down
the terrorists. Droves of young men and women were sent to war – away from
their families and risking their lives in the most dangerous place in the
world. It happened fast. Thousands of young men and women were killed
during this war on terror. They never came home. To this day, I’m thankful that you were not
born yet or of age to go to war. I don’t
know how those families did it.
When we talk about War with you now, it’s very simple.
Military soldiers go to far away lands to fight for our freedom. That’s how we have described the military to
you. By the time you’re reading this, you’ll understand so much more. For now, as a 7 year old, you know that Mr.
Scott (Messick) is in Afghanistan protecting America. You have absolutely no
idea how scary and dangerous this is. You have no idea that every time he comes
to visit, the hugs that Daddy and I give to him when he arrives come with a
great sigh of relief. Nor do you understand that every hug and handshake we
give him when he leaves again, are held for an extra second or two since it
could be the last time we see him. It’s
THAT scary. He’s given so much to help protect and fight for America. So has
his family. We just hope he never has to
make that ultimate sacrifice – and that he always comes home. We say good bye to him each time and pray for
his safety until the next time we see him.
This day always serves as a reminder of what is important in
life. There are a lot of things uncertain. Our country has changed tremendously
since this happened – the reason you can’t bring anything sharp on airplanes is
because of this. The reason you have to take your shoes off at security at the
airport is because of this. The reason that adults have to show ID 3 times at
the airport is because of this. All in
the name of public safety. It’s
necessary and a requirement now, unfortunately. I hate this it’s like this.
But there was good that came from this for our Country. The respect for emergency responders has been
taken to a new level. People became more
compassionate. People were reminded that
life is fragile. We can’t take things for granted. Kindness was contagious during the early
years after the attack – the outpouring of support for NYC and its people was
incredible. Our military gained new
respect after having to deploy thousands to protect our Country and fight for
our freedom against these terrorists. They
are still there fighting for us. We’re
forever indebted to these brave warriors.
We all worked together to earn back what was lost that horrible
day. We were strengthened through this.
So, on this day, as sad as it makes me, I also try to turn
this into a day to be thankful for all that we do have. It's a good day to regain some life perspective. And be reminded of all
of the people in this country who lost someone that awful day & those who
have lost someone at war on our behalf. They are the ones who need our support.
My hope for our future is that our world can find some
peace, somehow. I will never understand the evil, nor will you. In the meantime, we need to be the good in
this world. I’ll do whatever I can to help you be the best you can be and make
a difference. I love you. - Mommy
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