10 Years Later
*phone rings*
Terri's Dad: Michael! Quick! Turn on the tv!
Me: Okay, what happened?
Terri's Dad: Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center! All the airports are closed. Wait, what are you doing home?
Me: Um, Terri's sick
And there you have it. My 9/11 memory. If I were brutally honest, I should have said, "Terri's spotting", which is not good news if you're pregnant within the first few weeks of finding out your pregnancy.
So, to the doctor we went, with coverage replaying footage everywhere. You couldn't get away from it. The doctor said Terri had a septive ovum, which is like the body's way of tricking itself into thinking it's pregnant and showing up on a pregnancy test. Didn't matter either way. We'd been trying and were flying high with the news on the pregnancy test and initial checkup. We took the news as a loss on a very personal and real level no matter what you called it.
Everything went totally surreal for the rest of the day. Terri slept for most of the day on the couch. I got tired of watching, but not much caring, events on the tv and went out to the patio to sit and think and try to find some peace. But I couldn't even find it there. No planes flying overhead. Everything was absolutely still.
Eventually came the dim realization that I'd have to go back to school tomorrow and face 20 third graders who might have questions and fears of there own, but frankly, I wasn't thinking of them. I was thinking of our own personal loss.
When I did make it back to class, I said the right things about how everything was going to be alright. Most said that it was like watching a movie. Frankly, I was on autopilot. I couldn't really connect with what was going on in New York and other places, when I had my own loss and grief to deal with.
In fact, the national tragedy of 9/11 did not hit me until months later during the Super Bowl Halftime show. U2 was performing "Streets With No Name" and they had the names of the victims scrolling on screens behind them. That's when it finally hit me and I was in tears.
So, where are we now, 10 years gone? Interestingly, I'm oddly detached. I respect that it IS a day of national tragedy, contemplation, and rememberence. I feel compassion and sympathy for the families and friends of the victims. But I just can't bring myself to watch all that tv coverage, because that day was something more than just what happened in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
That day is a personal tragedy as well.
Terri's Dad: Michael! Quick! Turn on the tv!
Me: Okay, what happened?
Terri's Dad: Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center! All the airports are closed. Wait, what are you doing home?
Me: Um, Terri's sick
And there you have it. My 9/11 memory. If I were brutally honest, I should have said, "Terri's spotting", which is not good news if you're pregnant within the first few weeks of finding out your pregnancy.
So, to the doctor we went, with coverage replaying footage everywhere. You couldn't get away from it. The doctor said Terri had a septive ovum, which is like the body's way of tricking itself into thinking it's pregnant and showing up on a pregnancy test. Didn't matter either way. We'd been trying and were flying high with the news on the pregnancy test and initial checkup. We took the news as a loss on a very personal and real level no matter what you called it.
Everything went totally surreal for the rest of the day. Terri slept for most of the day on the couch. I got tired of watching, but not much caring, events on the tv and went out to the patio to sit and think and try to find some peace. But I couldn't even find it there. No planes flying overhead. Everything was absolutely still.
Eventually came the dim realization that I'd have to go back to school tomorrow and face 20 third graders who might have questions and fears of there own, but frankly, I wasn't thinking of them. I was thinking of our own personal loss.
When I did make it back to class, I said the right things about how everything was going to be alright. Most said that it was like watching a movie. Frankly, I was on autopilot. I couldn't really connect with what was going on in New York and other places, when I had my own loss and grief to deal with.
In fact, the national tragedy of 9/11 did not hit me until months later during the Super Bowl Halftime show. U2 was performing "Streets With No Name" and they had the names of the victims scrolling on screens behind them. That's when it finally hit me and I was in tears.
So, where are we now, 10 years gone? Interestingly, I'm oddly detached. I respect that it IS a day of national tragedy, contemplation, and rememberence. I feel compassion and sympathy for the families and friends of the victims. But I just can't bring myself to watch all that tv coverage, because that day was something more than just what happened in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
That day is a personal tragedy as well.