When I got up this morning, the morning show I listen to was of course talking about 9/11. So naturally the kids and I starting reminiscing about that day. I wondered if they remembered any of it. Molly was in 3rd grade and she said she remembers her class and the 4th grade class all gathering into one room to watch the news. I don't remember her telling me that back then and I wondered if this was the first time I heard it. Cody was in 1st grade and he doesn't remember anything. That surprises me because he was glued to the television set over the course of the following week. He kept watching the footage and asking questions and re-creating the scene with paper Twin Towers that he built. He was absolutely mesmerized by the whole thing. One afternoon when it was just he & I in the car he asked me how old you have to be to go to war. I told him that you could be any age but that you have to be at least 18. After a few minutes of silence I questioned why he asked me that. His response put tears in my eyes "Cuz I'm real good with my gun".
Every person you speak to remembers what they were doing when they heard the horrific news or witnessed it live or on television. I had just started college the week prior to this and I was sitting in my Child Development class when some of the students were talking about what happened. My immediate response was that we would be going to war. Even without knowledge of the Pentagon hit, I never imagined that it was an accident, I immediately assumed it was an attack on us and that we would need to retaliate. And I was filled with an emptiness because of what war would mean. What it would mean to the soldiers and the millions of people that would be affected by it.
My next thoughts were of the people in New York. Later in the day, when I heard of the Pentagon hit, I thought of three very good friends who work in DC and then the dozen or so others that I knew from when I worked there in 1992. Right after Desert Storm. My friends, thankfully, were not hurt physically. Emotionally, for all of us is another story.
911, 9-11, 9/11 No matter how you see it or how you say it, those numbers will be forever etched in our minds.
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1 comment:
Nice post. It's definitely one of those never-forget-where-you-were-when-you-heard events. I can even remember what I was wearing that day - right down to my shoes.
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