As I was getting ready for work a few days ago, I turned on the Today Show. It's not something I do too often since I usually just read the news online. But, I'm glad I did. They had a short segment about 9/11 and how the Smithsonian would be bringing out artifacts that had not been shown prior, for the 10th anniversary. Ten years. One decade. I could not believe that it had been ten years since the tragedy for several reasons. One, it meant that I truly am in my mid-twenties. Two, it literally feels like yesterday. It feels as if all the years between now and then were just the hours of the night that brings us to today, the day after 9/11. So much has happened since-got my license, graduated high school, graduated college, experienced love, experienced heart break, moved in to my own place, have worked full time, and recently became engaged to a wonderful man.
My mom used to tell me exactly what she was doing on January 28, 1986. She was ironing clothes, while I was asleep, when she found out about the Challenger explosion. I always wondered if I would ever have one of those memories. I can now say I know exactly what I was doing on September 11, 2011, I can even tell you the clothes I was wearing. I had on my favorite Express jeans, a yellow polo, and white tennis shoes. I wore my hair curly that day. I was changing books at my locker when I kept hearing about the World Trade Center. I had no idea what the World Trade Center was or even where it was. I did not realize how heartbreaking it was until I sat down in 3rd period Geometry class and saw the Twin Towers on fire. The only clouds in the sky, were the dark grey ones billowing out of the towers. We sat in silence. We prayed. We walked around in a sort of daze--how could something like this happen? We are America, this doesn't happen to us, it can't happen to us. In my young 15 years of life, I hadn't seen anything like this, so I didn't know how to react. We had prayer at lunch and continued to watch the news the rest of the day. I can remember seeing people jumping out of the buildings. I remember watching the towers crumble.
The days after were tender. America was hurt. People were putting up missing posters for their family members and friends. In the months after, while America was healing and becoming stronger, the news showed daily updates of how the clean up process was going. I once read that it took until May for the fire to completely go out. Finally, 9/11 was not in the news everyday, it was mentioned, but it was no longer the top story. I think that's why I had been stunned to realize that it really had been 10 years since that day. It's still a day that every time it is mentioned, I think of WTC, even if it has nothing to do with it. If I ask for someone's birthday and it's 9/11, I immediately see the towers in my mind, and wonder what they were doing on that day. It's hard to imagine that there are kids out there who were born after 9/11. They're going to rely on my generation to tell them the personal stories of the attack. They will rely on us like we have relied on previous generations to tell us the story. The story of 9/11 is much more than a chapter in a history book. It's a story about how Americans united.
