I had just walked out of my PR class. It was a gorgeous fall morning. Absolutely gorgeous. But the world around us had turned ugly. And I didn’t even know.
“Hey… the Pentagon … got hit.” I’d run into my friend, Abby, and she relayed the news. Just of the Pentagon. It wasn’t until I got to the Campus Union that I saw the footage. The people, amassed in front of the big screen tv next to the Caffeina Cafe.
The first tower was hit.
Then the second.
I went back to the house. I found my sister. I was crying. I called my mom on the house phone.
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“I don’t know, Ashli. We love you.”
There was more. But I can’t recall what it entailed.
It was just weird. Surreal. The whole day was full of fear. I watched as they reported that President Bush was in Omaha. NO. Please. Don’t tell the crazies that he’s in Omaha. He later recited the 23rd Psalm. The words had never meant so much to me.
I was one of the people who rushed to give blood. Not knowing it wasn’t really the best thing for the day. Because they’d be needing it for months to come.
We made a banner, because it’s what we could do … Do your part. Have a heart. Donate Blood.
And I couldn’t take my eyes off the coverage. All day long. I sat in the TV room with my sorority sisters. I was paralyzed with fear.
As I got into my top bunk that night. I didn’t want to close my eyes. What if tomorrow was worse? What if this was it? What if… what if… what if. And I prayed. So hard. And just hoped that tomorrow would be.
And for the first few weeks, months, year… each day was a little scary. And then we started to move past. Forget. Not forgetting the day. Where we were. But the feeling. Of being under attack. Of needing to pull together. To be one nation. United.
Every year. For the rest of my life. I will remember where I was. How I’d never been so scared in my life. How I thought it was the end of things. And how I just wanted my family. To hold them. To tell them I loved them. That, at the end, it was the people… not the things… that mattered. Just like everyone always said.
Where were you… have you forgotten? How did 9/11 change you?
You might also like
