9/11/01

September 11, 2001. It was a beautiful, crisp morning. The sky was a hue of blue that was so bright, it was almost blinding. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. I remember it feeling kind of cool outside but you just knew by the afternoon commute home, you'd be blasting the a/c. I hopped into my tan cutlass to make my way to work. I had finshed college that previous summer and had taken a job as a preschool teacher at a brand new KinderCare daycare. I had 12 students, 8 boys and 4 girls and if I didn't show up with my "game face" on, those boys would over take me, without a doubt, any day. As I was driving to work that morning, I heard the d.j. come over the radio and announce that one of the towers had been hit. At that time, they were speculating that it was an accident. When you hear this kind of news happening at such a distance away, you think to yourself how awful it is but you just go about your duties.

I arrived at work, entered the building and started my day with our usual circle time and morning activities. About 15 minutes after I got there, our cook came in and informed us (adults) of the latter devastation that had taken place. We had t.v.'s in our rooms but, for obvious reasons, were not allowed to turn them on. I remember talking on my cell phone to Brad and my mom, all while keeping an eye on my students while they were working in their centers. There was a feeling of panic in me and if I could just talk to the two people I was closest to, maybe they would tell me I was dreaming. By 10 or 10:30 that morning, America was gaining a better understanding of what was going on and pure panic hit the adults that were in the building that day. Our manager demanded that we proceed as "normal" but when you learn of that kind of news, it's kind of hard to "act normal." It wasn't long and we had parent's starting to return to pick their children up early in hopes of regaining a sense of safety again. I clearly remember sheer pandemonium as parent's were coming in, describing to us what it was like out on the roads and particularly at gas stations. Gas prices had skyrocketed to over $4.00/gallon and people were lined up clear out to the street to get gas. Looking back, I realize how dumb that is, it was almost as if they all thought New York was our main supplier of gas or something but devastation will make us do crazy things. The entire day at KinderCare was a blur but I do remember by mid-afternoon, we had finally convinced our boss to let us put a video in for the kids. Our numbers were down and our ability to focus had gone down with the twin towers at 8:30 that morning.

On my commute home, there was no music to be played on the radio. Instead, it was announcements about where you could go to donate blood and anything else that fit into the horrifying topic of that day. I remember feeling as if it was all so surreal as I still had not seen a t.v. screen to confirm everything that I had heard. I would even go so far as to say that for just a short time, I wondered if this wasn't the "end times." I do know one thing for sure, Satan was working overtime that day and I'm sure he was pleased with his work!

When I arrived back at my apartment, Brad was there waiting for me, along with my roommate and her boyfriend and a girlfriend of ours that lived alone and was just simply scared to go home. She didn't have any family near so she hung out with us that night.

When I think about that day, I realize that at some point previous to that, I became an adult as I don't remember ever being so scared that I wanted to go home and be with my parent's and siblings. It's not that I don't love them, I just knew I had met my lifelong soul mate and that's who I wanted to go home to. He gave me such a sense of protection and security when I was with him and that's what I needed after that day, to feel protected and safe.

Once I got home, I was glued to the t.v. for a strong 3-4 hours. I remember going through the disbelief, then the feeling of wondering when/if it was going to happen again and then just being pissed off that someone would be so evil to have plotted and planned something so herendous. I was amazed at how our country came together and gave blood or went to ground zero to help with clean up and so many other heroic efforts that were put forth that day and for years after. It made me proud to be a citizen here.

When I was growing up, I remember hearing stories of people that knew and remembered exactly where they were the day Kennedy was shot. I never truly understood the significance of that until 9/11/01 and now I know exactly what they mean.

If you know how to leave a comment here, I'd love to know your "9/11" story!