As much as we all hate to think of the devastation that was caused on September 11, 2001 I would like to think of the overwhelming patriotic outburst that happened afterwards.
<3 Never Forget <3
I was only 15 at the time and was sitting in Biology class my sophomore year when the news was delivered to us. Though we weren't allowed to know what had happened yet. At that time only one plane had hit and they weren't sure if it was an attack or if it was a accident with an airplane. But when the 2nd plane hit my teacher was handed a note from an office aide and class abruptly stopped. She sat rather still at her desk in complete silence. It was very unwelcoming the feeling of not knowing what had happened. A class of about 30 of us sat in dead silence waiting for anything to mutter out of her mouth.
"There's been an attack on America. New York, Trade Center..." her voice sort of drifted into whispers and a look of just utter shock on her face. This was very unlike her, she's more of the loud, out going, you're going to hear my opinion whether you want it or not type of people. This was uncharacteristic of her. About that time cell phones were ringing and people were crying. I was the first to come out and say what had happened. My mother had called (knowing I was in class since she actually worked at the school, but also knowing I wouldn't get in trouble this time for my phone), I recall a shaken voice when I said out loud
"The twin towers in New York were hit by airplanes. One each, there's going to be a lot of dead people. They think it's a terrorist attack."
I was going to insert a picture here, but I don't think any of us need a memory of what that day looked like honestly.
Words I never in my life thought I'd have to say. We sat there without a word said, a sob here and there until the bell rang to release us to our next class. That's where things got interesting for me, this teacher was also a science teacher (long story as to why I had 2 science classes that semester). Before I walked in the door I could see a pitch black room with just the glare from the TV in the corner of the room. We watched Good Morning America all class. Which was actually educational to me. I had no clue that in 1993 there was a previous attack on the same place that was also a terrorist. Why hadn't we discussed this in history class? That was one of my favorite subjects, I think I would have remembered that.
This is from the 1993 bombing.
Then the news of the hijacked plane that was suppose to be on it's way to the pentagon- how awful. I remember thinking that they were slowly taking out our government one big thing at a time and next would be the white house... sure enough the news of the plane landing in a field in Pennsylvania that was believed to be heading to the white house when it crashed surfaced. I have never felt so much shock and hurt feelings for something that I had no personal connection to. It was weird for me, but that in turn allowed the new found respect for my country. I had never been so patriotic as I had become those next few days.
It wasn't just one of those patriotic things that lasted a few weeks and then I was done, lol, nope still pretty patriotic, I don't have any recent pics showing that but this was a pic from July of 2007 at the 4th of July parade held here in Lexington.
haha great right?!
Anyway, I visited New York City in 2004 with my senior class, it was our big senior trip before graduation and I LOVED it! I fell in love with the place and honestly if I had the money to do so, I'd move there now. I can't see how anyone can hate such a great beautiful place. That's actually one of the reasons I named my daughter what I did. (Brace yourself, I won't call my kids by their names often online because of creepy stalker people that might see them out lol paranoid I know but it's for their safety) Brooklyn was named partly after Brooklyn, New York. I loved it and the people there, the shopping, the food, it was just all around wonderful and I wanted to have a part of that with me always, but that's a different story for a different day. When I left New York that spring I was even more in awe of this place that was put under such a horrible spotlight just 2 1/2 years earlier.
I have also since 9/11 had to let some good friends go serve overseas to help fight in our war against terrorism. I was thankful the first time they came home safe, blessed the second time, and currently we're over seeing our third. Even though I'm not as close with these friends as I once was, I'll be very happy when they come home this time as well. I wish them all the very best of luck and hope they are staying as safe as they can over there.
This is Don, we get on each others nerves, it's how we work.
Now that nearly 10 years has passed, the memorial where the towers stood is almost done. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am to see such a beautiful thing go up where such a horrendous thing happened. On the 10th anniversary of this day the names of those lost will be unveiled to the families effected by these events. What I find to be even more touching is that this memorial does not hold just the names of those lost in 2001 at the towers themselves, but it does include the names of those lost at the pentagon, the field in Pennsylvania, and those lost in the attack in 1993 as well. I think that is very touching. On September 11, 2012 the remainder of the memorial will be opened to the public, it will be a museum of artifacts surrounding this event, as well as some pictures of those lost in these events.
This is the aerial view of the memorial pools.
I found a video this morning on Yahoo! that caused me to write this blog and I would love to share that link with you here. If you get a few moments check out the video Behind-The-Scenes Look at the 9/11 Memorial .
Thank you for reliving the past with me for a few moments & if you or your family was personally effected by this tragedy may God bless you all.
This cross was salvaged from the parking garage when searching for survivors.
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