Always Remember.

I am sorry it has taken me until nearly midnight this evening to post this, it’s sort of off the cuff, and not really much to do with writing, I just wanted to say something regarding September 11.

On on the way to work this morning I heard a 9-11 tribute on the radio where everyone was talking about where they were when it happened and it got me to thinking. We all say “Always Remember,” and we all will remember where we were when we heard the news, and the events of that day to follow. It made me think back as well. I’d like, if you have the time, for you to post your story in a comment on this post. No matter how simple the story is, I’m interested in hearing, even if it’s just a few words of where you where, share. 

If you are interested, Meg Cabot shared her story here, it’s worth a read.

What I remember...

I was in orchestra with one of my closest friends (to this day) when the first tower hit. We were rehearsing and had no TV, but one of the choir kids came down and told us to come down and watch quickly. We watched the second tower hit, and continued to watch the news coverage, horrified. Class dismissed and as I ran to third period, I ran into my best friend at the time and told her to tell her teacher in next period to turn on the TV. In third period, our teacher cried and we watched the pentagon attack. The thought that went through my mind, as it did through mostly anyone’s mind watching it happen, I’m sure, was “All of our cities are being attacked.” Everyone started leaving school early, as I live in a suburb of DC and a lot of kids parents worked in DC and at the Pentagon, and everyone was worried about their families. My mom picked all of us up at our separate schools, there were two of us in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school. That way if anything happened, at least we would all be together. While it was scary, and there were horrifying images that still, to this day, are in all of our minds, the thing that sticks in my head the most is the moment we were driving home from school, all five of us in the car, and we passed the fire station. All of the firefighters were outside, and my brother shouted a hello to them, and they turned and waved back. 

This moment, in light of the horrible tragedy and loss of life we were faced with, those firefighters were a little beacon of hope. And after that day our country came together. I remember tying red, blue, and white ribbons to my backpack (they're still there 12 years later). It’s sad that an attack like this is what it took for us to pull together, but it shows us that we can do it.

I watched a video posted by a friend on Facebook earlier today, a clip from “What would you do” (see it here), and the soldier nailed it right on the head. We are all Americans, and as Americans we are granted certain freedoms, and that is what these men and women who devote their lives to their country are fighting for. We should never take those freedoms for granted. Take a moment to think about the freedom you have because you are an American, and how there are people in the world who are not as lucky as you.

To the heroes that have sacrificed their lives, to the soldiers and veterans who have dedicated their lives to protecting us, to the people who lost their lives in the attacks on September 11th, to families who lost their loved ones, and those who are still fighting to protect our freedom. Thank you. You will always be in our hearts. Always remember.

Today is a day to pause and remember where you were, and how our country changed that day. I know I did, did you? Please don't forget to leave a comment to share where you were that day.