Friday, September 11, 2009

Today the World stood still

I had just gotten out of the shower this morning and turned on GMA. I was about to walk back into the bathroom when I saw a plane fly rather low through the background of GMA. I thought that was kind of odd. The next thing I know there is a breaking news alert and we were told a plane had crashed into 1 World Trade Center. My first thoughts were "OMG was that real? Did that really just happen? Was that on purpose?". I stood frozen for half a second then ran into the other room where my stepdad was rushing around getting ready for work at the same time also trying to figure out what had just happened. As soon as I got the words "Do you think someone did that on purpose?" out of my mouth we watched in horror the second plane hit 2 World Trade Center. I knew then that yes, someone meant to do this. I just could not believe it! Why would someone want to harm that many people? I was in complete shock. I brought a portable radio/TV to work with me today so I could stay informed of what was going on. When I arrived I heard another plane hit the Pentagon and shortly after heard about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I work at a mall in Frisco, Tx and kept getting faxes from our other stores that were shutting down for the day and wondering when we would shut down, because I sure did not want to be at work today. About 5 minutes later I got a call from mall security saying there was a report of a bomb in the mall down by Macy's and I needed to get my employees and evacuate the mall. Luckily I was the only one working at that time and the mall was rather empty. So after I faxed all of our other stores saying we were closing for the day I left. It was so eerie outside, air traffic had been ordered to stop by the time I left work. Being so close to DFW and being so used to planes constantly flying in, it was just still. Silent. I never knew it could be so quite. I called my mom to let her know I was leaving and she told me that Beth was in labor. Oh what a day for that! I spent the rest of the day/night at the hospital watching the news and just trying to figure it all out. You have days in your life you will never EVER forget where you were and what you were doing and today was one of those days.
On September 11, 2001 I was 20 years old. I never thought anything like this could ever happen on US soil. I thought "WE" were safe. Since that day I try to live each day to the fullest because you never know what will happen. I see things differently, I make sure to see everything, take it all in, see the beauty in every day. I tell my girls and my husband 10,001 times a day that I love them, just so they know. It is amazing how things change a person. I will never forget this day, I will never forget the lives that were lost.

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