Where Were You? (Unedited)

Please share your experience of 9/11 in the comments.

Growing up, my mother often recounted exactly where she was when the news arrived that JFK had been killed. For many of us, a similar experience occurred on September 11, 2001….

The day was beautiful, the sun shone brilliantly, there was not a cloud in the sky. My day was not exciting. I had just dropped off my one year old (my only child at the time) at a friends house. I had physical therapy. My neighbor, although extremely pregnant and with a toddler of her own, happily agreed to  watch my daughter. Driving away from her house, I thought about the picture perfect day.

I arrived at my early morning appointment and the therapy began. At some point my physical therapist left the room, I don’t remember why. What I do recall is when she walked back into the room and said “a plane just crashed into one of the Twin Towers”. At the time, this “crash”  had just been announced. We had no idea that this wasn’t a freak accident.  A little while later, my appointment ended. Just when I was checking out from my physiotherapy, we learned that this was a planned attack; the second tower had been hit.

As I drove to my neighbor’s house, I listened in shock to NPR. When I arrived, I held my daughter close. Not wanting to be alone, my child and I spent most of the day two doors up from our own house. We watched the TV as the plumes of dust surrounded New York City. I worried about my friend who worked in Manhattan. A little later in the morning, a flight slammed into the pentagon; this was somewhat closer to home. Schools let out early that day and my friend’s older children came home. We might have turned off the tv, I remember thinking we should, but perhaps we just couldn’t move. The last thing I recall about the day, was my ex-husband asking if he could come over to see our daughter and give her a hug. As I said, my day was uneventful, but I recall exactly where I was, when I heard the news, that fateful day. Where were you?

Today, over two decades later, the sky is dark and the rain is coming down; it’s as if the Heavens are crying for all those who died on 9/11/2001. Looking back on that day, in a country that seems to be so divided, I think of how everyone came together in all sorts of ways: to pray; to mourn; to help; or to just be there for one another. May there never be another event as catastrophic as 9/11, but perhaps our nation can remember that day and lessen the divide.