Where were you?

I was a junior in high school. I had to be to school early every day so that I could record the school's morning news. My dad teaches at the high school, and he had Jazz Band practice before school every morning, so he would give me a ride. We were pulling in behind the school and I looked into one of the classrooms and saw a TV on, and I think the first building had just been hit. I walked through the band room, and headed to the video production room, and when I walked in, I saw what was on the TV and couldn't believe it. At that point I think everyone thought it was a terrible accident. I remember standing around the TV while my classmates walked in and nobody would say anything after they figured out what happened. We were watching when the second plane hit and we all screamed. That's when we knew it couldn't have been an accident.

We did the morning news and had a moment of silence, but it was all so new that we weren't even close to understanding what it meant. I'll be honest, being 16 years old and having to do a moment of silence on TV in front of the whole high school was awkward. I don't remember who was on with me, but I do remember them giggling, so I giggled, and I felt so bad about it.

That day during school everyone was buzzing about how likely it would be to have our U.S. Air Force Base hit - The Air Force Base 10 miles away from our town, the Air Force Base that many of my friends' parents worked at. I think I remember hearing that it was likely they could attack us, because at that time, our base was important.

I was the manager of the cross country team, and would go to all the meets and record them. I don't remember where we had a meet that day, but I do remember seeing a big fire in the distance and being a little nervous.

I finally got home that night and gave my parents a big hug. For months we were glued to the TV, watching everything and taking it all in. We had just been in New York City that April for my sisters' wedding reception. We had her wedding pictures taken at a park with the World Trade Center in the background. We walked through the city, and I had wanted to go to the World Trade Center, but we didn't have enough time. We thought, "Oh, we'll just go next time." I'm so grateful I was able to at least see them. I'm determined to go to Ground Zero once in my life, and pay my respects.

I don't know how many of you think about 9/11, but I think about it a lot. I wanted to write it here because this blog is my journal, and I wanted to have it written down somewhere. God Bless the families that have suffered any loss from this.