We Remember

Did you ever ask your grandparents where they were when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened? What about asking your parents where they were when Kennedy was assasinated? My son will one day ask me where I was on September 11, 2001 and I know exactly what to tell him. It's forever etched in my mind.

My roommate's mother woke us up with a telephone call. It was 8:30am on that Tuesday morning. A plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. We turned on CNN, like so many around our nation, and we saw a second plane fly into the other tower. We were dumbstruck. Shocked, appalled. What had just happend? We then watched the towers collapse. Within a few hours, we would learn that four planes were highjacked. People dead in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. 2,999 in total. America changed forever on this day, and I remember.

I was a freshman in college and had only been at school for about 2.5 weeks. We all muddled through the day, talking, crying, watching the news. Discussing what happened, why, how, what could have been done to prevent it. Wondering if we were safe. CNN/MSNBC stayed on our television around the clock for a week. We couldn't do much else. It bonded us together, this terrible tragedy. I learned a dear friend's mother passed away in the Pentagon. I can still feel the way my gut twisted upon seeing a still smoking Pentagon weeks later while driving past.

What I remember most, aside from the sadness, the fear and the politics, was pride in our national spirit. We began to see a collective movement of patriotism. While I've never appreciated the "put the boot in their ass, it's the American way" or "with us or against us" mentalities, I do like the joining together of the people of a nation to say: "We can overcome this. We are strong. We will survive. We will go on. We will not forget."

Today, I'm thinking of all of those who lost their lives, so senselessly and yet bravely. I'm thinking of the families and friends who were lost. And most of all, I'm thinking of America and how proud I am of all of us.

Someday I will take Wiggly to see the memorials at the Pentagon and World Trade Center. I want him to know the history of our country. This event that changed the course of American history. Wiggly will see, Gigi has a picture of mommy, Uncle R, and Uncle J sitting on Liberty island as small children. In the background, the Twin Towers. I want him to know. Mommy remembers.

I remember.