September 10, 2001

It had been a tough summer. A close friend's ex-boyfriend had driven drunk and killed himself, two girls, and a young police officer in July. Another close friend was killed by a drunk driver in a separate crash in August. I was home from college for the summer and missing my husband (at that time, my boyfriend) who was still in Oregon.

I waited at the gate with my father for my flight to leave Anchorage and head to Seattle. My flight was delayed so I was thankful he had decided to wait with me at the gate instead of just dropping me off. Of course we didn't know that would be the last day anyone besides passengers would be allowed past the security checkpoint. I was taking a short 2-day trip to visit my best friend before heading back to my junior year of college at OSU. That night, Tam and I enjoyed a nice dinner and headed to bed after our usual hours of talk only best friends can have.

September 11, 2001
We were awoken the next morning to the phone ringing over and over. It was Tam's uncle, telling us to not go into the city (we had planned on going to the Space Needle that day in downtown Seattle) and turn on the tv. As soon as Katie Couric's voice came on and the image of the plane flying into the World Trade Center was shown, we knew something was very very wrong. We watched all day. We couldn't stop. We looked up at the empty sky. I called the Husband right away and told him I loved him and I didn't know when I could get to him. My flight back to Oregon was scheduled for September 13th. At one point in the afternoon, we had to stop watching tv and get out of the house. We got in the car and turned on the radio. Amazing Grace was playing and we both cried and cried. It was surreal and horrible and unbelievable.

I ended up taking a 10 1/2 hour train ride to get back to college because I couldn't fly. My flight was obviously canceled and I didn't want to be on an airplane by myself anyway. My husband was there when I got off the train, with roses. I had never been so happy to be in his arms. I think it was then that we knew for sure that we wanted to be married, soon. We went to a candle-light vigil in the rain that night in our college town. It felt so strange how such a horrific event brought our country together. It's so sad that the camaraderie is gone again.

I wasn't a teacher in 2001 but I am now and it's impossibly hard to explain the events of September 11th to my eight year old students.They were three years old when it happened. I don't know what to tell them when they ask, "Why did those people do that?" I'm so sad for them, that they will never know the world before September 11th. It wasn't perfect but it was a little less scary. We will never forget.