The Twins

I was 15 years old and it was probably just a week or so after my first year of high school started. I was sitting in my Biology class which I already hated. You know, I used to dream and hope that I would become a Marine Biologist when I grew up...until I took high school biology class. Why should I have to learn about all that boring stuff in order to play with dolphins and manatees in the ocean?

As I was sitting in Biology class that day I remember class was almost over. There was maybe 20 minutes left and the teacher was in the middle of some important lecture about biological things such as genes or something. Suddenly a woman came on the PA system and announced that all teachers should turn on the television in their classroom because there was some breaking news happening in New York. She did not specify what was happening and then my Biology teacher just kept on talking and I think we were all looking at him like, "are you going to stop and turn on the TV or what?" So he said, "I'm not going to turn the TV on, class is almost over and I am going to finish this." He continued with whatever he was teaching us and the bell rang and we all left to go to our next class.

I walked through the hallways and heard other students talking about bombs and as I walked into my next class, American History, the television was already on and I sat and watched the screen. Now, at the time I had heard of the World Trade Center, but never saw what it looked like or anything, at least not that I'm aware of. I saw that one of the two identical buildings was smoking and it said a plane crashed into it at the bottom of the screen. I figured it was a small plane and the rumors in the hallway were wrong; there were no bombs involved. We continued watching the television for a while after class started and then I watched a second plane fly into the other building, and then the world knew it was deliberate and a lot bigger than small planes. 

I don't remember much of my day after that. I remember walking home from school and I think my mom was home already and CNN was on when I walked in the door of my house. I remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV for most of the day watching the replay of the planes hitting and the buildings collapsing over and over again. I remember not really feeling anything. At the time I didn't know anyone in New York City. I had no one to be worried or concerned about. I wasn't threatened in my small town in Minnesota. I did not cry or anything. I was 15, what can you expect?

I do remember my Biology teacher apologizing to us the next morning in class for not turning on the television.

Sunday is the 10th year anniversary of this devastating terrorist attack and so there are television specials on every single night interviewing witnesses, people who were there, people who escaped, people who did not get out, ordinary people becoming heroes, even a show highlighting all the events leading up to the attack and profiling all the men involved with the hijacking and flying the planes into the buildings. As I am watching these shows it's like seeing it for the first time all over again, only this time I am old enough to really realize what happened and I am crying during every single special. I understand it better and could actually tell people what happened that day if they ask. Ten years ago I did not cry, but this year I am full of emotion over it. I still can't believe it actually happened. I wonder what it would be like to have been there. To have those two buildings be such a huge part of the identity of my city and suddenly be gone. Or to have been inside the buildings when it happened. Would I ever go into another sky scraper again? Are the people who had offices in the WTC going to have offices in the new building that's going up? 

I was telling the Fiancée about the anniversary coming up and thought I should ask him if he really knew what happened that day and he said he did not. He knows planes flew into two buildings, but nothing about hijacking or that there were two other planes that crashed in two other places. It felt good to be able to explain it to him.

This Sunday, don't forget to pray for the families that have lost loved ones and the nation that has had to figure out how to go on in the face of terror. 

To end on a completely different note, here's some pictures of my excitement over eating Strawberries again! It's a rare thing in India to eat them but we've always seemed to have them in our fridge here since I've been home.

What were you doing on September 11th, 2001?