Ten Years Ago Today...

...10 years ago today, our nation was forever changed. Where was I? It was my freshman year of college and the day before was Bid Day. I was excitedly getting ready and chatting with my roommate in our dorm room, ready to proudly wear my new sorority letters to class. Suddenly, our door flew open and our senior roommate, Jo, said, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!" She turned on our tv and my roommate and I watched. All I was thinking was, "Wow! How in the world did the pilot accidentally do that?" Then we saw the other one hit and again, naive me, thought, "Wow! Someone is not doing their job correctly!"

In my 18 year old mind, terrorist wasn't even a word to me. We live in the USA, no one would ever attack us, this was just poor piloting, right? As I walked into class and saw the panic of my teacher who turned on the tv and informed us about the other flights, I started to get an uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. She, of course, cancelled class and I headed back to my dorm room. When I got there, I had like 4 messages from my dad checking to make sure I was okay. I called him back and we talked. He explained things to me and I was in awe. How could this be happening?

That night, my sorority sisters and I headed to the vigil in the gym. Over the next week, I realized many of the familiar faces were gone from campus. When I asked about it, I found out that they were in the National Guard or some branch of the military and had been called to duty. For an event that was hundreds of miles away, this was suddenly hitting very close to home.

The following summer (2002), my mom took me to NY and we visited Ground Zero. It was the quietest place in New York other than the sound of tears. Putting the images you saw on television and then seeing nothing in person really put things into perspective. These are just a few pictures I took that day (and could find 10 years later) of Ground Zero and the memorials surrounding.

Ten years later and I still remember who told me about 9/11, what I was wearing, what class I had, who the professor was, heck I even remember what tv I watched it on (it's in my bedroom now). I hope that I never have to witness something like that again in my life time. Ten years ago and I still remember the people who lost their lives that day. I pray for their families and for the men and women who protect our freedom daily. God Bless America!

Tell me, what were you doing 9/11/01.