September 11, 2010

I woke this morning with the date heavy on my mind. September 11 always takes me back. I remember driving home from Holy Trinity. I was sitting at the light at Brownsboro Road and Zorn Ave. when my brand new cell phone rang. I was 8 months pregnant with Emily, and the cell was new in case I needed Kirk at the last minute. What did we do before cell phones?

Anyway, it was my sister, Colleen. "Sharron, are you watching the news? A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center!"

I wasn't really sure what the World Trade Center was and had no idea where it was, so she filled me in. "Turn on your radio," she said.

I drove the rest of the way home listening to the news. It was on every station. When I got inside, I turned on the television and watched in horror as smoke and flames poured out of the North Tower. I called Colleen. Shock like this had to be shared.

"Those poor people!" I said. "Can you imagine? How are they going to get down?"

"What if your husband worked on the top floors?" she replied.

"Those poor people," I said again.

We sat in silence on the phone together, watching different stations in case one had some news that the other didn't, answering the other lines when someone would beep in to make sure we knew what was going on. Then the second plane hit and fear set in. Her channel showed someone falling. Mine did not. My channel was the first to report on the Pentagon. We watched the towers fall and wondered if anyone could survive. We learned about Flight 93. It was like that all morning, and together we watched in horror as our world changed. I knew my baby would be born into a different time...life after 9/11.

Each year, I relive those events in my mind and turn on the tv to watch the memorials and the replays and see us before we were what we are now, when every plane crash or explosion wasn't first considered to be an act of terrorism.

There wasn't much on yesterday. It has been nine years after all. People have moved on, life has continued.

So I was sitting on the bleachers at football practice yesterday morning looking out across the field when a big Southwest Airline plane came into view. Then another plane flew by. At first, I thought it was odd that planes were flying today. I thought it was odd that anything was going on today, on the anniversary of such a horrible day, but there we were...at football practice or work or shopping or flying to another place...continuing on with life. Cars were driving by on Poplar Level Road. Fans were coming into the stadium for a soccer game later in the afternoon. I even read in the paper that some folks were getting married today. And that is how it should be. That is what makes us strong. We remember, yes, but we move on. I like that about us.