Ten years later
I was getting ready for school, turned on the news and went to the bathroom. I wasn't really listening and then I heard the announcer say, "oh my God, what is that?" I went back to my room in time to see the second plane hit the WTC. I sat down hard on my bed. Staring as they re-capped the whole morning.
By the time the first Tower began to fall I was sitting on my parent's bed. My grandmother had called and woken them already when I walked in and asked, "Are you seeing this?"
We watched as the second Tower fell, as they showed people jumping out of windows, people crawling away, running, covered in dust, everyone the same. We held each other and just watched. My dad said something about the airline industry never being the same. I remember not understanding, only thinking that the world wouldn't be the same. I had no idea how this would change my life directly.
I did go to school, so did my brother. We were probably late but no one cared. It was so quiet. Several people were absent. It was Tuesday, the beginning of my Senior year. I was still getting used to it all. And we watched the news all day. By the afternoon we knew it all. I heard of a girl whose father was there on business. Later I learned he called her mother before he jumped. I couldn't help thinking that one of the people I'd seen that morning was her father.
In choir we talked about how we had skipped visiting the WTC in favor of the Empire State building on my sophomore trip. How we regretted that now.
In the weeks that followed we heard of war, of countless people signing up to be policemen, firemen, soldiers. Against all common sense, volunteering for that in honor of the people who died that day. Who brought people out, and then went back to get more.
And the airlines didn't recover. By October, my father was laid off. And nothing was hiring. We went from being stable, owning a home, reasonable income, to relying on my mothers paychecks alone. And I knew if I wanted to go to college it would be up to me. I didn't even apply anywhere except the local community college.
Dad was unemployed for 6 years. When they did hire him back it was for about ten months and then laid off again.
Ten years later, I'm living in Oklahoma. I've graduated college, with 3 degrees. I've been to 6 countries outside the US. I have friends all over the world. Instead of making me afraid, the world as I know it, is larger than I ever imagined.
I will never forget that day. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost loved ones that day.
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