In Remembrance of 9/11...

And in honor of those who lost their lives, those who lived through it, those who did all they could to help those affected, and those who have done, and continue to do, all in their power to prevent it happening again. My thoughts are with you and your families.

I knew when I woke up this morning that I wanted to post something about this day, so I decided to post about what September 11, 2001 was like for me. (Warning: this will be a long post.)

September 11, 2001 started out like any other work day. I was in my bedroom putting the finishing touches on myself for work when the phone rang. It was just before eight in the morning. I heard my dad answer, and could tell he was talking to my grandpa. My dad said something like "oh no! You're kidding!" and I thought something bad had happened to a member of my family. After my dad hung up the phone, he yelled for me to come out to the family room. My dad was turning on the T.V. when I walked out and he told me that two planes had hit the World Trade Center in New York, and another plane had hit the Pentagon. I thought it was a weird coincidence that three small, private planes would hit three buildings in one morning, but then he told me that they were commercial airlines and were suspected terrorist attacks. We stood like statues in the middle of the room watching the smoking towers, and then I saw the first tower collapse. I started to cry and hoped that I was wrong about what I had just seen. I knew that I needed to leave for work, so I very reluctantly headed out to my car.

I was listening to coverage of the attacks on the radio during my drive, and found out that all airplanes (except military) had been grounded. I arrived at work (which at the time was at a flower shop) and immediately turned on the radio. They were playing recordings of people calling in to tell about how they narrowly escaped being at the WTC during the attack. I heard about people who missed their buses, couldn't find a cab, etc. The one that really stuck with me was one woman who called in and said that her son had thrown a fit about having a bologna sandwich in his sack lunch that day. She said that she normally would have made him take that sandwich anyway, but for some reason she backed down and made him peanut butter instead. The time that it took to do that caused her to miss her train, and that small incident prevented her being on one of the affected floors of the WTC.

I should note here that I was working just across the street from the air force base. I was used to hearing F-16s taking off and flying over head all day long, but that day the skies were eerily silent. That was by far the longest work day of my life. All I wanted was to be home with my family, and to hear what President Hinckley had to say about the situation. Traffic started to line up on the road out front of the shop, since it was on one of the main roads leading onto the base, and not only were they doing careful searches of each car coming on base, but several of the squadrons had been called and told to report for duty within two hours, fully prepared to deploy. Throughout the day, airmen came into the shop to order flowers for their wives/girlfriends for upcoming birthdays, Valentine's Day the following February, and Mothers' Day in May. We also had several couples come in and ask if there was any way we could do flowers for their weddings that were being moved up because one or the other of them was deploying. As sad as it was to hear those stories, I'm grateful for that experience because it made the military part of the event very real and personal for me.

At lunch time, I went home to eat and stare at the T.V. I will never forget driving past the base that day on my way home. I had lived near the base for most of my life, and had been on base quite a bit. I had never seen the hangar doors shut, and there were always planes lined up on the tarmac. On that Tuesday, all the hangars were closed up tight, there were no planes in sight, and I couldn't see any movement at all on the base. It literally looked like a ghost town.

After work, I went home, sat in front of the T.V., and cried for hours. I don't remember why Mom and Dad weren't home, or where they had gone, but being alone made it harder for me to deal with the whole day. Finally that evening, President Hinckley spoke and they televised it. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember that it was the first time I had felt any peace all day.

I also remember several times in the next few nights hearing F-16s taking off in the middle of the night. They don't take off at 2:00am very often, and it scared the life out of me each time it happened. I would jump right out of bed and go running out the front door to see if they were "scrambling" some threat within viewing distance. Only after watching the jets until they were out of sight, was I able to go back to bed.

The events of September 11th changed not only our country, but changed me as well. I have always been an extremely patriotic person, but my appreciation for this country and my freedom has skyrocketed since then. I don't ever want to forget what happened on 9/11. Thank you to all who protect our freedom, our country, and the rights of others!

P.S. I would love to hear what you were doing on 9/11 and how it affected you. E-mail me or post a comment here if you wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks!