I will never forget...

Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I remember sitting in a large classroom in Poolesville High School, a naïve 16 year old, 11th grader, sitting in Chemistry class, (a class by the way, I hated and probably was aimlessly not paying attention) and was interrupted in my day-dreaming by the loud intercom. Now, even though this was 8 long years ago, I feel as if it was yesterday. I can remember exactly what I was feeling, thinking, and trying to understand. Confusion, now best describes the feelings I was having. Growing up in a small, rural town outside of Washington DC, I was accustomed to the country living but also enjoyed and understood the fast paced lifestyle of city-living. A forty minute drive, from my front door was the National Monuments of Historic DC, which my family and I often visited. I lived a very sheltered lifestyle at home, even though I had seen much more of our world then many others my age. So as I sat there, listening to the principal, I heard the words, “Students, we wanted to bring to your attention, that there has been an accident. (An accident I thought, oh no, a car accident? A teacher, fellow students, who, I thought?) A plane has crashed into one of the world trade centers.” ( I remember looking over to the right and seeing the clock at 9:20am, and thinking 9:00am is considered the beginning work day in America, why I thought this I have no idea.) The principal continued, “we will update you with any information that becomes available, at this time, continue with daily activities.” After the announcement, my teacher, said, “oh, what a terrible accident,” and that’s what was assumed the reason. I remember thinking about this “accident”. Did a fighter-pilot fall asleep and accidently crash into the building? It must be what happened. Poor people, is exactly what I thought. Right then and there I said a pray. What a terrible accident. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Class has ended. I exited the classroom, and saw one of my friends, Natalie. She said, “Oh my gosh, can you believe, this is so close to us!” I said, “What do you mean, it is in New York.” She said “No Holly. Here in DC.” I stated to her, “Nat, the World Trade Center is in New York.” We continued to argue and walked to our next classes, finally half-way through realizing we were both right and talking about two different accidents. My 4th period class was AP Biology, where I came across my teacher crying, (remind you that this is the second week of class, teachers are very unfamiliar with us, as we are with them) and stated that her sister was on a plane leaving out of Boston, and she couldn’t get a hold of her. Right then and there, the world as I had known it had changed. The TV was on in the corner of the room and for the first time fear struck my mind; what was happening?? What was happening in our world, in our country, wait…in our backyard…? Some of my fellow students, I remember were also crying and class was not held, as we just all clung to the TV, watching to towers fall one, then two. Speechless. At lunch I went to the main office, and asked to call my mom, before I got to speak after saying, “Mom,” I was told I would be picked up in five minutes and to be outside waiting. I remember riding in the van, the few short minutes to the safety of our home, and starring at the window thinking how beautiful the day was, not a cloud in the sky and the sun shining as bright as you could imagine, and my mom stating, “don’t worry, Daddy is safe, Lockheed is on code red,” and continuing without even taking a breath. The remaining part of the day, I slowly began to understand that this accident was really a terrorist attack, and as far from an accident than anyone ever imagined. I wasn’t sure if I would go to school the next day, how many survivors there would be, what the death toll would be an hour later, a day later, a week later, who would be found, who wouldn’t be, and where our nation was going. I went to church that evening in my small town, with other town-members, all there with a common feeling---uncertainty. From this day forward, I became more aware of my nation and what it meant to live in America, and how proud I was to live in our beautiful nation.

And here we are, here I am, 8 years later. Simply, wow, 8 years have passed…it’s hard to imagine. Every day, every month and every year, that has passed, life and the way we live it is different. In case there is another attack on our country, we (my family) now have emergency preparedness plans, gallons of water and canned food in the garage and crawl spaces, we know who to call out of state to communicate with if cell phones don’t work locally, we know what to grab from the house and proceed to our cabin out of the metropolitan area, we know to stay at the cabin until every family member is there. Not to mention, we have hung a flag out on the front of our house, every day since 9.11.01, we say the Pledge of Allegiance a little louder, we sing “God Bless America” a little louder and we get new “Support Our Troops” and “God Bless America” ribbons on the back of our cars each year to continue to show our support for our beautiful nation. We hug each other a little tighter and say I love you a little more. I may not politically agree with ways our nation views certain things, but one thing is for certain, that I will always be proud to be a citizen in this country and will respect those in power.

We are reminded daily of the way our lives have changed and how the innocence of our nation is no longer what it once was. As I sit here in class, with fellow social workers, not one person I have seen today as a flag pin on, a ribbon…anything to resemble that they are reminded of this day, neither has a professor even said a word regarding today is September 11th. I have a red, white and blue ribbon on today and will for every September 11th for the rest of my life here on Earth, to honor those who died this day and those who continue to fight for our country and die for the safety and security of our beautiful nation. I know I will never forget the feelings I had on that day, and the feelings I have each September 11th that passes, year after year. I will never forget, and I thank God for helping me never forget.