Remembering

This weekend as I am sure we all know, marked the 10 year anniversary of 9-11. My kids, especially Ethan who was only a few months old at the time, have been talking about this a lot too. i thought I would take a few moments to jot down what I remember from that day.

I was getting Carter ready for pre school when JaDee said to switch over from PBS kids after the first plane hit and I watched the second plane hit, when all the TV crews were still trying to figure out if the first plane was just a horrible accident.  I remember the F-16 planes ROARING over my house as they zoomed to the Canadian border and back looking for rogue planes.  I remember how for months after that there were loaded F-16s in hangars at Hill AFB with pilots in them around the clock to take off in 90 seconds if another threat happened, especially during the Olympics that came just a few short months later.

My grandmother was actually on a plane, in the air on her way to see me in Salt Lake from Fayeteville, Arkansas, when they were ordered to land all planes that day.  My dad worked in DC at the time and was evacuated from the city.  My dad's wife and I were trying to get a hold of each other to make sure everyone was safe.  She and my dad couldn't get a hold of each other with all the jammed phone lines but both of them could call out to me (I could not call in to DC either but calls out came through) and I was relay point for her, my dad in the HOURS it took for him to make the 40 mile commute, and my grandmother, who was stuck in St. Louis for 4 days and a kind stewardess took her home with her.  I know my grandmother still sends her a Christmas card every year and I hope she knows how truly grateful we all are that my 75 year old grandmother didn't have to sleep in the airport.

I remember the days following when Carter would build Lego towers and crash his toy airplanes into them and knock them over, as if all the news coverage had opened a new way for him to play, and not shown him a perfect example of evil. His little mind didn't comprehend that there were people in those planes and even more people in those buildings.

I personally did not know anyone in the towers, the planes or the Pentagon, but many people I know did. My roommate from college lived in Battery Park at the time.  She has amazing stories of service and miracles, but also stories of horror and trauma as she tried to locate people she knew, who went missing.  My cousin and her husband lost several friends in the towers that day as well.


It was a turning point. As much the end of the age of innocence as the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. One in which we all were made a little more cautious, a little more careful and a little less trusting.  But we were also made a little more brave...when was the last time you have heard of a hijacked plane? Thanks to the brave passengers on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania that day, we are all empowered travelers who won't take it anymore.

Undeniably, the world changed that day. And for days even weeks after 9-11 the earth stood still.  Everyone was a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more compassionate.  So instead of remembering the evil of that day, lets remember the way we showed love for each other, for our country and for our families.  Lets never forget those who died that day, that we as a people might learn these important lessons.
Lets not forget how we stood by a president who made the decision to go to war nor the men and women who went to that war and those who continue to go to war.

But most of all, lets remember what matters most to all of us.  Our families, our God and our freedom.