9/11 Remembered

Tonight as I was channel surfing, I landed on MSNBC and they were showing a the Today airing of 9/11 as the events happened. A flood of memories came rushing forward.

9/11 happened on a Tuesday in 2001. I remember that day like it were yesterday. I had taken a leave of absence from work that year to complete my MSW. Tuesday just happened to be the one day that I was not in class. I usually got up every morning around 7 am, met some classmates at the Y to work out, then we would drive over to IHOP for pancakes (I know, pretty much defeats the purpose of working out) and a study group. For some reason that morning, we decided not to meet.

I can't remember the exact time, I just remember waking up, turning on the television to hear Matt Lauer and Katie Couric talking to someone via phone regarding a "possible" plane that hit the World Trade Center Tower. I sat there glued to the television for the next few hours. I could not believe what I was witnessing. I sat there in stunned silence as the second plane hit the second tower. My best friend's father worked in Tower Two. A girl I went to high school with worked in the building adjacent the twin towers. I tried calling my best friend, but could never get through. My mother called the parent of my high school friend. It was unreal, unbelievable. How could something like this happen? Why, I kept asking myself, why would someone do this? These were innocent individuals who went to work that day like it was any other day. Innocent individuals that will never go home. Children that will never see their parent(s), animals that may be sitting in their owners' apartments waiting for them to come home, and they never will.

I eventually learned that my friend's father was home sick that day and my high school friend was away on a business trip. But I also learned that a girl that graduated from my college never made it out of Tower Two and another college alum's husband was killed when the plane hit the pentagon. Whether he was in the plane or in the building I cannot recall.

It has been 7 years, 7 years since 9/11 and even though I think about that day when September rolls around, I truly believe that I will be forever changed as a result of that moment in time. Life is too short, we need to embrace those around us, cherish what we have, appreciate all that we have been given, and be grateful for the little things in life.