For me and probably most people my age, the horrific events of 9/11 became my first "where were you?" moment in my life. For me it went like this: I woke up that morning and got ready for my first class. When I walking downstairs to leave, another girl from my sorority was also on the stairs rushing down to get to the tv room. She said that her mother had called and something was happening, maybe a bomb. We quickly ran to turn on the tv and watched the news coverage of the first tower burning. It was horrible. We sat in silence for several minutes until I had to leave. I drove over to John's house and I remember walking into his townhouse where he was standing in his living room watching the tv in disbelief. The first thing that he said to me was "did you see this?" We continued to watch until we saw the second tower hit. It was horrible.
Later that day, I went to all my classes, but that was all that people wanted to talk about. I had a hard time getting a hold of both of my parents because all the cell phone signals were down. I remember being terribly worried about my dad because he traveled a lot for his job and traveled to New York on a regular basis. Finally I got a hold of him and he was luckily in St. Louis safe and sound.
Later that evening, my sorority house organized a candle light vigil outside of our house. We invited all of the other fraternities and sororities to join us. It was amazing to see all of these people walking down the street to our house all lit up with candles. It was a sight I will never forget. There were literally hundreds of people standing on our lawn and in the street totally silent.
In 2007, John and I went to New York to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday, since that was where he was born and spent the majority of his childhood. We were able to take the time to go down to where the twin towers had previously stood and it was such a humbling experience. Seeing the tributes and pictures was probably one of the saddest moments of my life. Above are some pictures of the area including pictures that were posted there. There are also two tributes in those pictures, one for the NYFD and one is of a piece of the tower that they salvaged that now is the place of an eternal flame.
I feel like 9/11 holds a different significance for me now that I am a mother. I think of all those parents that lost their children that day and all the children that will grow up without one of their parents and it makes my heart hurt. I think of all those police officers and firefighters that selflessly gave their lives to save someone elses and I pray that John, my cousin Amy and all the other police officers that are a part of my life never have to be a part of an event like that.
As it is for everyone, that day is a day that I will never forget. I hope that Cole can grow up in a world where these type of events are just spoken about in history class. I hope that he never is asked that question "where were you?"
