As a nation, we should never forget what happened that day on our soil.
Each of us has a memory of that day….here is mine.
It was a typical Tuesday morning for me. I felt my husband’s kiss on my cheek after he fumbled with the covers that were over my head. We have this agreement, that he should never leave for work without giving me a peck on the cheek, even if he thinks I’m comatose. The touch of his kiss signaled to me the rude fact that my alarm would soon be going off and that it would be time for me to do the gets.
Time to get out of bed, get the coffee going, get my two oldest girls off to school, get myself and my toddler ready to go to my Bible Study Fellowship leader’s meeting. The hectic pace of my “mother in the morning routine” was interrupted by a phone call. It was Mike. He said something weird had happened. His building was shaken by an explosion caused by a plane that hit a building across the street from his, the WTC. There was no alarm in his voice, he and the guys on the trading floor all thought it was a small commuter plane that accidently hit the tower. He didn’t think it was anything to worry about. I told him I was running out the door to leader’s meeting and that I had to go. He suggested I listen to the car radio on my way over so that I would know what was going on. I said “Okay, I’ll talk to you later honey”.
After I buckled Christie up in her car seat, I put the radio on as I turned out of my driveway. The station was asking people to call in if they had witnessed the plane that hit the WTC. While this particular eyewitness was on the phone, he started screaming into the phone that another plane had just hit the other tower! The radio announcer didn’t know how to respond. I just remember him saying that is was an “unconfirmed report” and that they were going to a break as I turned into the church parking lot. I remember thinking to myself that it just couldn’t be true. I scooped Christie up and rushed into my meeting. When I think back to that day I have to marvel at the providence of God that I was not at home alone that morning but at my church.
At around 10:00 a.m., we heard a knock on the door. It was my pastor, he came in to tell us that one of the twin towers had collapsed and that the other tower was in flames. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He knew I was in that meeting and he also knew that Mike worked across the street from the WTC. My stomach hit my feet. A million thoughts raced through my mind, chief among them was that the tower fell over onto Mike’s building. I jumped out of my seat and went with Pastor Dwight into his office to call Mike. There was no answer at his job or on his cell phone. I must have dialed the numbers a dozen times. My body began to shake with fear. What the heck was happening? I thank God that at a moment like that, I had a man of God right there with me; to comfort and pray with me.
I decided I needed to get home right away; in case Mike was trying to call me at home. I drove the quick 7 minutes home, left Christie in her car seat and dashed into the house to check the answering machine. The machine was blinking with messages…but they were all from family and friends eager to know if Mike was alright. But no message from Mike. I had thought for sure that he would have called the house to let me know he was alright so when there wasn’t a message I really started to panic. I turned on the t.v…I watched in horror at the images of destruction on the screen. There was chaos and pandemonium. I saw the other tower crumble with people running for their lives…I wondered if one of those people was my husband. It was unimaginable to me that the WTC no longer existed. I used to commute on the PATH train to and from the WTC when I worked on Wall Street and to think they had were gone…it just didn’t seem real.
When it dawned on me that I should get Christie out of the car, I started walking into the kitchen when I heard a noise coming from the garage. I thought that maybe my daughter had unbuckled herself but to my surprise I see Mike come walking in the door! I didn’t ask any questions, we just clung to each other and wept. Mike sobbed like I had never heard before. Now it’s not every day that you see a man cry, so when it does happen it becomes a never-forget moment. He told me he saw people jumping from the burning building. He told me that after his building was evacuated some of his co-workers had the stupid idea to go over to the WTC site to see for themselves what was happening. Again, in the providence of God, he decided not to go over with them but to just get the heck out of there. He immediately walked over to the World Financial marina and got on the next ferry to Hoboken. Just as he reached the other side of the Hudson river, the other tower fell. People around him cried and screamed in disbelief. He got into his car and headed toward home. We cried together in our kitchen for some time. We cried for many reasons… for all those people who were trapped in the buildings and didn’t make it out…we cried for all those families who were ripped apart. We cried because our world had changed in a matter of hours and there was no going back. That beautiful September morning had ushered in the harsh reality of terrorism and evil, and this time it was in my own backyard.
2,996 people lost their lives that day. That’s the official number. The reality is that they were not the only victims. That day our whole country became the victim of terrorism. It has been said that some people in our nation have distanced themselves from this tragedy because they didn’t personally know anyone who died on 9-11. But the truth is it wasn’t just New York City or Washington DC that was attacked, it was the entire United States of America. Our enemy had at last accomplished what they had long been threatening to do to. Why after five years, do some in our country still not take radical Islamists seriously?
I know I do. I’m thankful that our Commander and Chief, George W. Bush does too.