Twelve years after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and I still remember what I felt that day. I still remember things from the next few days that followed. I had no idea what happened when I logged on to check my email and someone shot me an IM asking what was going on in New York. I turned on the television and watched in horror. Then my thoughts turned to a friend I'd heard was living in the city. I got in touch w/them and found that they had moved to the West coast a few months prior to 9/11. Some relief there, at least that this friend was okay, safe - but what about so many others?
I remember no planes flying for days. My parents were in Montana and their flight out was delayed for three days. During those three days there were no planes in the sky. To this very day it feels like there weren't any birds in the sky either - yet there had to be. I swear that every time I looked over the next few days I didn't see a bird in the sky, didn't see one anywhere else. Maybe I was just looking too high up in the sky, but I recall thinking that I didn't see any birds and that thought just really stuck in my head.
My parents were seated in first class for their flight out of Montana. They served them steaks in first class. They gave them knives to cut their steaks with and my stepfather told me that worried him a bit. Who wouldn't worry after what had just happened? I had a coworker whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks. She's now away at college starting her freshman year. When she told me that her father died that day, I thought back to how I felt and how it felt to be sitting in front of someone who lost someone they love that day. She was a child on that day. I saw a post on her facebook page today that reads "I'm still the same seven year old girl" - and that makes my heart ache for her and her family.
When I was a little older than seven, my mother worked for an airline. I went to the airport a lot. My grandparents flew out to California to visit us, we flew home to Ohio to visit them. I loved watching the planes come and go. I loved walking right up to the gate and hugging my grandparents one more time before they left. Then we would stand there and watch the plane take off. Since that day ten years ago, you don't get to do things like that anymore. That's a small memory to lose compared to losing a loved one, yet I still miss that. So today, twelve years to the day, I remember. Peace - a good thing to hope for. Have a great day.
