I Remember

September 11th, 2001
"The whole world's changed today"

And I remember everything.

I was a senior in high school. I had 1st period flex, no class. I listened to a CD while I got ready and in the car on the way to school - no radio, no TV. I was preoccupied by thoughts of the disagreement I had with my boyfriend the night before. (Sigh.)

I remember I walked into my high school completely unaware that an airplane had just smashed into one of the twin towers at 9:46am. To be honest, I didn't even know what the twin towers were. I was 17 years old.

I remember how I was met in the hallway at the top of the stairs by my friend Jenna..."have you seen this?!?" I had no idea what she was talking about. Airplane? New York? Was it an accident? How does that happen? I walked in to 2nd period Government just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the south tower at 10:03am. The classroom was silent.

The rest of the morning was a blur. I remember my friend Melissa coming into my 2nd period class. Her mom worked for Delta and was on a flight from LA. No one was sure at that point if there were more hijacked planes aimed at more targets. She was terrified. We were all in shock.

I remember the bomb threat that was called in that day. Our whole high school spent the entire afternoon outside in the stadium and field house while the bomb squad was called in. I remember how we had no idea what was going on. And that we were not allowed to go back into the building for the rest of the day. But we weren't allowed to leave either.

I remember finding my mom and sister in the field house. Asking my mom what was happening? Why? Was this bomb threat really real? And why couldn't we all just leave?

I remember how that afternoon I was still caught up in my own personal all-encompassing boyfriend drama. I was so completely oblivious to the nightmare unfolding in New York that I'm almost ashamed to admit it.

I remember finally being released from school and sitting on the couch that night next to my boyfriend. Glued to the TV, watching replays of the 2nd plane hitting its target, seeing the pentagon smoking, hearing reports on a suspected flight that went down in Pennsylvania, watching and re-watching the horror of the towers collapsing, the smoke, the New Yorkers running from the wreckage.

I remember how I went to fill up my car with gas that night...just in case. In case of what? I don't know. But it seemed like a full tank of gas would keep me prepared for the "just in case."

I remember how that night my mom said to me..."ok, you're never moving to New York now..."


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Four years later on July 7th, 2005 I remember running very late for my summer school class at the National Gallery in London, England. I remember trying to run into the Gloucester tube station, only to be met with floods of people exiting, trains weren't running...but no one knew why.

I remember the buses flying by filled with people and how we tried to hop on one, so we wouldn't be in trouble for missing class. I remember being so very thankful that we didn't get on a bus. There were bombs there too.

I remember thinking...not here, surely not here. Terrorism knows no national barriers.

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The following year in 2006, I remember my first September 11th as a New Yorker. On the five year anniversary of that terrible day. I remember the stories my New Yorker co-workers told. Of where they were. What they were doing. How they were affected that day. Stories that brought the nightmare and terror to life on a whole new level now that I was a New Yorker too.

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Today - ten years later on September 11th, 2011 - I remember.
I know we all do.

Found this page in my senior scrapbook - A newspaper clipping collage