Has it really been ten years?

I can not believe tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of  9/11.  It's amazing how time has passed and how things have changed. 

What was I doing that day?  I remember it like yesterday.  I was living in the ZTA house.  Sarah was my roommate and she had already left for class.  I was rolling out of the bed to head to Ramsey when the first tower was hit.  I thought it was a terrible accident, bless the poor pilot's family.  On the way to Ramsey, as I listened to the radio, the second tower was thrown into the mix.  I got that terrible, butterly-in-your gut feeling, terror.  I was afraid.  Having a dad in the Navy Reserves and being a news hound I knew these plane crashes were a sinister act. . . on our country, not in the middle east or somewhere far off.  I proceeded with my routine and called mom.  As soon as I made it to the treadmill I was tuned to TODAY.  It wasn't long before the Pentagon and Shanksville became a part of the day's tragedy.  I was really getting that nervous-gut feeling.  Where could we go for safety?

When I made it back to the house everyone one was buzzing.  Susan wanted to go home and Sarah had made it back from class.  I got ready and headed to the NS15 Newsroom.  I couldn't get there fast enough.  When I got there my classmates were glued to the monitors and surfing the net for the latest.  This is what us news junkies live for, bringing the story to the people.  NS15 is a CBS and CNN affiliate.  We watched live, uneditted feed.  It was mind boggling.

I spent most of the day with my sorority sisters in the TV room trying to make sense of it all.

That night a group of us went to Redeemer Presbyterian for a special prayer service.

Those are the memories most vivid to me.

Now I think about how our world has changed and how most of us in the TV room that day now have children of our own to protect from terror.

I hope our country spends tomorrow in reflection and remembers how we all joined together that day (and since) to protect our families from harm's way.  I hope it doesn't turn into a day of politics and jargon.  I hope we take time to recognize our resilience and comradery and how we are all more alike than different.