9-11

I am praying for all the families, both that lost someone and that have those fighting for our freedom.

I watched the towers come down, and I am crying more today watching the memorial, than I did that day. I can vividly remember sitting as we were eating breakfast, BR happened to look through to the TV and asked what the hell was on it. I thought my grandparents had changed the channel.

We all stood and watched, our breakfasts growing cold, and there were no tears. There were no words. I remember the fear, that I felt, even as I was nestled safely in South Texas. On a ranch far from a suburban area. My boys were two and a half and a year and a half. I remember holding them and praying that they would know a peaceful and loving life. And praying that they would not have to live in fear.

They dont remember it at all, but it has shaped how I have raised them. They know about it, they know that there is something in this world greater than them, that there are true heros. When Brett says he wants to join the military when he grows up, I battle fear and pride. I dont know that he will. But I wont stop him if he wants to.
I do feel that our reaction through the years, and BR's and I discussing it has influenced him.


This happened before I had Rayley, and well before Bow, I am amazed and thankful that I was afforded the freedom to have them. Many things have changed in our lives since that day. Hearts broken, dreams realized. But there is still a catch in my heart, every time I hear the words 9-11.

Today is my son's 11th birthday.
I remember getting to pre-school, putting on that brave face, carrying cupcakes, and watching my son salute the flag as he lowered it to half staff.

Emotional day for me. September 11th is my happiest day, and also one of my saddest.

I was working.... we had no tv or radio, just people coming into the store with bits and pieces and it seemed very surreal. I went home and brought back a tiny tv and we all stood in complete shock for what felt like hours. I did cry, I couldn't stop crying. It's not anything I can describe. Here we are 7 years later with those responsible still at large, it kinda adds to the sadness, at least for me. So much has changed, so much has been done, yet the one thing I think we all needed, has not yet happened. Not looking to start a fight, just saying how I feel, I wont comment again on the subject.

I was in Canada living at the time 9/11 happened. A friend message me on ICQ said "a plane just hit one of the twin towers in New York". I quickly put on the tv to see what I could find out.

I was horrified.. and never so grateful to be in Canada.. in my 1 horse town as I was at that time.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families/co-workers and survivors today.

I happened to be sitting in my car, at work, waiting for another employee to come in. My car radio was not working at the time, so I had some headphones on, listening to music. I did not know a thing that was going on. We went in, and went about our normal duties. After the store being open for an hour, we realized we were very slow, but chalked it up to school being back in session and people at work. Around noon, the store manager called and asked if we heard anything. We hadn't, so we turned off the satellite music and put on a regular radio station. The 3 of us, and one customer gathered around each other and just stood in shock to hear what had happened.

I was childless at the time, but it did scare me of any future children that I would have. One of my employees had started to get scared because her son had gone to the Sears Tower that day. He was okay, but with everyone in shock that day, and calling their loved ones, it was some time before she got in touch with him. We were able to close the store around 3 pm to go home and be with our families.

My bf at the time had started to tape the news for me around 9 am, so I had a few hours to watch the news from the morning.

At that time, I used to tape all the Simpson's shows off FOX and what I found ironic is that day was supposed to be the Homer VS New York one. He spends time in the Twin Towers in that episode. I have never seen that episode since.

I know that the 9/11 attacks have changed my view on the world. In a way, it took away my innocence. But it has helped me to learn to be a better American. I am more proud to be an American and will take a stance for my country, where I was born and raised.

I have family overseas right now, fighting for us, and I am so proud of them. I looked into joining the Army myself back in 2003 (after we started to go there too), but then had a few changes in my life that made me not want to be away.

I remember being at home and when I realized what was going on I drove to Zaven and Caly's school thinking that the kids (all of them, not just mine) would be traumatized and they would need volunteers. But when I got there, the teachers hadn't told any of the kids. I stayed there just to be near my kids, and I kept popping into the school library where the librarian was watching the coverage. It was so surreal.

In so many ways that was a day that showed the true range of humanity. On one hand you had zealots willing to kill thousands, including themselves, out of hatred. You had people cheering and celebrating their "success" in attacking and killing so many. And even worse in a way were the men who arranged everything, but watched from a safe distance.

But on the other hand, you had off-duty firefighters and policemen who drove from miles and miles away to go into the buildings over and over, knowing that it would collapse and kill them and only hoping to get one more person out before it did. You had men and women who carried a wheelchair bound stranger down dozens of flights of stairs. You had passengers on a hijacked plane fight to keep their flight from being used to attack others. You had people from around the country, and around the world, praying and doing what they could to help.

Wow, what a day that was! I was on the computer on a message board much like this one, only a techie one. I had FoxNews on, and whipped my head around when I heard the first report. I was in shock. I posted about it on the board. Turns out there was a wide range of people reading the board at that very minute, that either were at work with no tv accessibility, or were overseas in the military and wanted to know if their relatives were ok. I ended up typing nearly non-stop for 2 1/2 hours (until someone took over for me to give me a break) giving updates, and they kept asking for more.

During that time my daughter called from college (about 3 hours away), she was scared. Foreign students on campus were cheering, yelling they hate Americans, setting fires, waving signs off their balconies. She was afraid to walk to class, especially since she had many foreign friends in Engineering that she hung out with on the weekends. Suddenly she saw them as she never had before. I told her I would come pick her up, but she said "Not yet, let's see what happens". I had her call me every half hour. I texted my husband who was in a 3 hour meeting with a room full of executives that had no idea what was going on. I kept typing and typing on the message board, and my daughter kept calling. I called my family, checking on my niece who was at another college, but said all was fine. My daughter then called and said they were moving all the foreign students to the international building in lockdown for their safety, but I think it was for everyone elses.

My husband wasn't that alarmed until my second text message with the second plane crash...at first thinking it was a repeat message, then realizing it wasn't. His whole meeting ran to the closest tv in the lunchroom and sat fixated.

I have lots of family around New York, many in Jersey, and work in New York. I couldn't get through to any of them so stood fixated listening to the news. Thankfully none of mine were in the buildings that day.

I came home from picking up my son and spent all afternoon updating that message board for several military that were on ships with no news access. I don't know how many people read my updates that day, but the board recreated all the transcripts a year later and reposted them. It was a strange day, one I won't soon forget.