Today is the 10 year anniversary of the worst US catastrophe of my, and your, generations. Today our family all watched numerous documentaries of what happened, and I couldn't help but shed tears again as I was reminded just how terrible, shocking and surreal the event itself was. It was difficult at first for you, Coleton, to understand why it made me so emotional, but as we watched actual footage of the day, you began to understand.
Every year on this day, you briefly learn in school about what happened, but so many details are left out. So many details that, until now, I think you were all too little to handle or comprehend. This year however, 10 years later, I think you finally understand.
You're both (Paige & Coleton) very curious to know what we were doing that day. If you asked me what we were doing this time last month, I don't think I could tell you, but I remember the events of 9/11/2001 like they were yesterday and don't think I'll ever forget.
We lived in Phoenix, AZ. Paige, you had just turned 2 and Coleton, you were almost 3 months old. I was working from home back then, and at that moment getting Erik (then 10) ready for school. It was about 6:00 am, when our neighbor Erica called me crying and told me to turn on the TV. When I did, I saw that one of the twin towers was on fire, but it was still unclear what had happened. Within 5 minutes, I saw a plane hit the other tower and explode. I couldn't believe what I had seen. I called Dad, who was at the lab working, and he told me that they were watching it too.
By this time, the news anchors were reporting that terrorists had hijacked several planes and that the crashes were both deliberate and ongoing. From the cameras that were covering the news, it appeared to be a movie. Frighted people ran from the scene in an attempt to save their lives, escaping the towers any way they could; many even jumped from windows to their death. I could not believe, could not comprehend, what was happening in the city that I once called home.
Throughout the day, I never turned off the TV. I didn't get any work done. I held you both and played with you, so very thankful for our lives and praying for the lives of those who were in New York. Planes continued to crash, one in a field in Pennsylvania and the other into the Pentagon. All remaining flights were grounded, and no one knew if more planes were going to crash. It was such a scary and insecure feeling to know that we were not safe.
After about an hour, the first tower (South) collapsed. It was terrible. People were running for their lives as ash, debris and metal fell around them everywhere. People were white when the dust settled, many bleeding, all crying and scared to death. There were firefighters and police everywhere trying to do what they could to help, but many of them were hurt or coughing from the dust also. Shortly thereafter, about 30 minutes later, the North tower collapsed. The footage from the collapse, recorded a loud rumbling, a quickly approaching cloud of darkness, followed by silence, hearing only falling debris and coughing. The aftermath was far more gruesome, somber and paralyzing than any Hollywood film could recreate.
The entire world stopped to watch it.
The entire world cried for the lives lost.
Every American cried for their fallen citizens.
I took your pictures that day, so that you can always remember what you looked like on the day we went to war. The day when countless lives were lost. The day that Americans banded together to declare "NEVER AGAIN".
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