Then and Now

September 11, 2001

That morning we woke up to a normal sunny fall day. The kids were getting ready for school - Jack Jr had just begun 5th grade and Sami was officially a 1st grader. I took them to school as usual and headed off to my job as a technical writer at Enterprise Rent-a-Car. I turned on the radio to listen to my favorite country music station, only to hear that a plane crashed into one of the towers in New York. I thought, "oh my word, what a horrible accident."

That was the last moment of our innocence. 

When the second plane hit the other tower, everyone knew - this was no accident. The reality of it was incomprehensible. Who could do this and why?

I arrived at work to see everyone else in a state of shock. No one could concentrate. All of us, as well as the rest of the world, were scrambling to get more details from the Internet. The Internet was jammed from all the traffic.

More tragic news came in about the Pentagon and the plane crashing in Pennsylvania. It seemed the world was coming to an end and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was thankful the kids were safe at school and sheltered from the horrors that were unfolding that day. I knew I was going to have to explain it to them that night, but I had time to figure out what I was going to say, or so I thought.

September 11, 2011

My son is now 20 and in college studying computer engineering. My daughter is 16, a junior in high school and the captain of the color guard squad.

Sami saw the Pentagon Memorial when Ritenour's band visited Washington DC on Memorial Day weekend. She said it was a beautiful tribute to those who died that day. Jack still looks at the planes flying across the skies and continues to hope those planes don't become weapons again.

These kids were so young when the world came to a crashing end. Our world will never be the same again, but we can only hope that these young people will make the world a safer and better place for their children. I believe that would be the best way to honor those who perished ten years ago today.

God Bless us all.