Yesterday...

As I read the blogs of some of the people I know, I realized that they were all mostly reminiscing yesterday's 7th anniversary. I hadn't thought about it since last year, and did not realize it was already September 11th again. It seems like so long ago that it happened.

I was in ninth grade in Wichita Falls, TX when the twin towers and the Pentagon were attacked. It was one of those slow days at school where nothing much is happening and that is perfectly fine with you. I was in my theatre class, doing my monologue in the black box, when a person from the front office came down and said that my mom had called the school and I needed to call her back immediately. My teacher let me stop with my monologue so I could call her.

I get her on the phone and she doesn't sound like herself. She tells me that terrorists have attacked New York and Washington DC. The only thought that ran though my head at the time had nothing to do with New York. See, my dad was training in Washington DC to join the State Department for a tour of duty. I could feel the blood rush out of my head and I started to shake. My mom says that the Pentagon was hit and she hasn't been able to get my dad on the phone all day. The last thing we had heard was my dad was supposed to be training there that day. My mom asked if I wanted to leave school, and I told her no. I didn't think it would be good if I was at home just worrying. At least at school I had something else to concentrate on.

I got off the phone, and told my class what had happened. We were all in shock. And since we were in the black box, we didn't hear any of the announcements the office was making. So even though this had happened two or three hours ago, we hadn't heard a thing.

Class got out and we all walked sullenly to our next classes. I had Tennis, so I didn't hear the next announcements either. After that was JROTC, and we had PT that day, so we didn't hear anything then either. And my mom didn't call again, which made me think the worst.

I got home from school and there was a message from my dad on the answering maching. He had gone to training in Virginia instead of the Pentagon as a last minute change of plans, and he was ok. I called my mom, and she had just gotten off the phone with my dad, so we were both relieved.

I will never forget that day. It was tragic for the entire country, and it should never have happened, but it did. So many lives were lost that day, but it was not in vain.

I will never have the same fondness for the memory of December 7th, as I do September 11th. Both days our country was attacked, but I was only alive for one of them. It will always hit me harder.

I am so proud of what our men and women in the armed forces are doing all around the world. Without them, we would not have freedom, we would not have democracy, and we would not be able to remember days like yesterday with the respect it deserves.

God Bless America, and the heroes that defend her.