9.11

Ten years have past since the tragedy of 9.11 has occurred. A deliberate attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. Everyone can recall the exact place they were when the news hit. I'd like to share mine. I lived in the Washington DC area.

I was a second grade teacher. The day began as usual. School was in session for about thirty minutes when my teaching partner in the next classroom told me to turn on the CNN on the web. I was shocked to see the news on the first plane hitting the first tower. I can't even tell you what was going through my mind. I thought that it must have been an accident of some sort.

The next thing I knew I was hearing sirens and helicopters and fighter jets flying over the elementary school. It was loud. Very loud. And the jets were flying very low. I checked the news again -- all the while trying to still teach a "normal," class day. My mind was racing, yet I didn't want my innocent students to know that this day was suddenly different.

The Pentagon had been hit by a plane. Many of the students I taught had parents who worked at the Pentagon and worked in government jobs. How was I going to tell them? Should I tell them? These were just some of the thoughts running through my head...

As a teacher we are required to stay in the classroom making sure each and every child is picked up before we are allowed to leave. We stayed and stayed at school while students were slowly picked up by their parents. By 5pm my class was finally all picked up. Each and every one of the students had their parents. They all made it.

I drove home with my teaching partner following me. In an otherwise busy highway, it was empty. The rest of the city had already abandoned their jobs and returned home many, many hours before....it was getting dark, and still loud with helicopters and many, many jets flying overhead protecting us. My heart still races every time I think about it......9.11. Our country and each and every one of us will never be the same......