Remembering....

Ten years ago, I actually got to sit down with a cup of coffee, turn on the tv and watch a little 'Good Morning America'.  Usually, the tv was being used during the early morning to watch Dora, the Explorer or some other PBS or Disney show.  My kids were 5 and 3 and they liked their morning programs...but for some strange reason, that morning, they had quickly eaten their breakfasts and run off to play. 

I was actually excited to sit for a few minutes...until I turned on the tv.  It seems a plane had hit a building in New York and there was chaos on the television.  No one seemed to have any information...and I and the entire world then looked on in shock as a second plane hit the other tower.  We all knew then that it wasn't some terrible accident, we knew that it had been orchestrated but we didn't know by who.  In that moment of horror, my thoughts went to my husband, he was at work.  If we were being attached, he needed to know. I called his place of work and quickly told them to turn on a television.

In the hours that followed, I tried to maintain a normalcy for my kids.  I took my son to his violin lessons that morning, stopping to get gasoline.  The line was so long, I guess everyone needed to do something so filling up their tanks seemed like something rather than nothing.  I was also told that the local blood bank had a line as well. 

We, in the fly-over states, felt so helpless to help those who were hurting. We didn't know what to do or say so giving blood seemed like something.  Our lives changed forever that morning.  Oklahomans knew that feeling.  After the Oklahoma City bombings, we had our innocence taken in a way that only terrorism can.  We realized that no one is safe, that in an instant, our lives can take a turn that we can't control.

But we also realized that we can survive and thrive.  I see that now.  We are Americans, we have always risen from adversity and we will continue to do so.  I am proud to be an American.  I am proud of the sacrifices that others have made for me and my family.