IN REMEMBRANCE

Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I was at home from work that day. I was online chatting with my Internet quilting friends Kathie and Robin. The TV news was on, because it normally is at my house. When breaking news came on that a aircraft had hit one of the World Trade Center Buildings in New York. It must have been a terrible accident. Robin was from New York, so we talked about how she watched the towers being built. Then I watched as the second aircraft hit. My heart fell to my stomach as I realized that it was no longer a fluke accident and our country was under attack. Then the Pentagon was hit, and there was talk of a fourth plane that had disappeared. Turns out it probably flew over my house that day as it turned to head back to the east and it's fate. The three of us finally bid our farewell's so that we could watch our TV's. What more could we say? It was beyond any kind of dialog.
I will never forget that day. I couple of months before I had miraculously survived a sudden illness. I felt very lucky to be alive. I felt that I had lived for a reason, I felt that I needed to live my life a different way. It's hard to explain. If you have ever survived a sure death, you will understand how I felt. When I witnessed this horrible attack, I knew that at the instant that second plane hit, our lives would change. My son was sleeping. I was crying and I woke him up and told him to turn on the television. That many thousands of people had died, and that he should be awake to witness what would change our world.
It has been 6 years now, and I am in the basement sewing, and chatting through email this time instead of instant messages with the same people. We have this memory along with many other better one's to bind us together. I think there are bad times to come for our country. I hope that we can all remain strong and remember what being an American means.