On the evening of September 10th 2001, I packed my bag for the following days JV tennis practice. I climbed into bed and I was unable to fall asleep. Something was on my mind but at the time I couldnt tell you what it was. I remember seeing the clock hit 4 AM and I was still tossing and turning and my mind was racing. Finally, I fell asleep for about 2 hours. September 11, 2001 I walked into Mr. Brambletts 7th grade science class like any other typical day. I was sitting my my friends Leane and Laura learning about "science" or more likely watching a movie about something that Mr. Bramblett thought was scientific. I think it was right when it was time to change classes, as I was leaving Mr. Brambletts room I overheard someone in the hall that was coming in for the next class talking about a plane hitting a building. In my sheltered 7th grade mind, I was curious but had no idea what could have happened. When I arrived in Mrs. Moore's 7th grade history class to a substitute teacher, we were all informed of what had happened in New York City. Since we had a substitute she was a little unsure as to what to do with the situation because we were to be taking our first test of the year. She told us to continue taking the test but she would turn on CNN for us to be watching. Talk about a distraction. Being terrified and trying to understand what was going on in the world while taking a test. I remember the worst part was being so unsure of everything. Unsure of what had actually happened, unsure of why, unsure of who did this...was it an accident? Unsure if we were next? My dad worked at my school so luckily I felt a little safer than others. I remember seeing classmates crying because they had family members either in New York or Washington DC. Since I went to a private Pre-K through 12th grade school there were lots of different ideas about September 11th going on. I remember having our middle school director talk to us as a grade later in the day telling us not to talk about the events in the hallway in case some of the lower school students were walking by. I'm sure the high schoolers were told the same thing about us. The high school all assembled in various locations with projectors to watch what was unfolding all day. In middle school we carried on at a semi-normal pace. Towards the end of the day, we were informed that all after school activities were cancelled. I was bummed that I wouldn't have tennis that day but was pretty eager to get home and talk to my parents and try to understand what had happened. I decided after school I would still change into my clothes that I packed for tennis. When I opened up my bag I had packed the night before, I was a little shocked to see what I had packed. I had planned on wearing a shirt that had the peace symbol, a heart, then the American flag. My mom had bought me this shirt for 4th of July the summer before but I had never worn it. I'm not sure why I decided that I would pack that shirt to wear for the first time on September 11th, maybe its just a coincidence, but it gave me a feeling that I will never forget.
September 11th will forever be in my generations heart as our first tragedy that we were able to remember. Gone but never forgotten are all the loved ones that were lost that day for reasons that on Earth we can not explain.
Sorry for the somber note today, just something that needed to happen!
xoxo with a little extra American pride today,
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