That Day

It's hard to believe that it's been six years since September 11, 2001. In some ways, it seems like it was a million years ago, but in others, like it was just yesterday.

On MSNBC this morning, they played the Today Show from that day and watching it made it feel like it was happening all over again. Which people need, I think, because it's obvious that most people in this country have forgotten what that day felt like.

On September 11, 2001 I was late for work (as usual). I got in at close to 9:00. I remember that on the way to work, I listened to Big Head Todd & The Monsters' Sister Sweetly CD. While it's not important, it's strange to me that I canremember the tiny, mundane details of such a day.

A few minutes after I got to work, my husband called to tell me that a small plane had hit the WTC. I was still on the phone with him when the second plane hit. I remember running around the office to tell everyone. We searched the internet for more information, but nobody knew anything at that point - it was all speculation.

When my husband called back to tell me that the Pentagon had been hit and then later that one of the towers had collapsed, I felt like the world was going to end. I went over to the SGA office on campus and watched the news with everyone else. I was there watching it when the second tower fell -- one student screamed and had to be taken from the room. It was at that point, that I'd had enough and asked to go home.

At home, it was no better. My husband didn't go to work that day, so the two of us sat glued to the television, shocked and disbelieving. We watched as they started piecing everything together and as friends and family members of the missing started making pleas for help to find their loved ones.

The days after were crazy. Our school had a large muslim population on campus and the news reported that our university had trained at least one of the terrorists. News trucks were parked across the street, the FBI was in our office going through our records and for that first week, there was at least one bomb threat reported every day. I was completely paranoid and spent most of my day looking out the window to make sure nobody was going to park out front with a car bomb or the like. Driving through town, I even saw a car with a sign in the back saying that our school trains terrorists.

Several weeks later, they discovered that no, no terrorists had trained at our university, however the press never did get the word out on that. Even to this day, people think that we did. Actually, one of our alums was a pilot of the plane that hit the Pentagon, but that was never reported.

It was a scary time for everyone...I pray it is never repeated. Anyhow, everyone has their story about that day. This is mine.