September 11, 2001

This is how I remember that day 10 years ago:

I was a Senior in high school and Captain of the Calico Dance Team. We were rehearsing for our Friday night half-time performance and practice was almost over. Mrs. Karen Bristol walked into the gymnasium and motioned for Mrs. Kara Guinn to come over. We all continued to practice until Mrs. Guinn motioned for us to come sit in the middle of the gym. She was obviously distressed, but none of us knew why. I think I can remember exactly what she said. It goes something like this:

"Girls, I want you to know that your lives just changed forever. Nothing will ever be the same. I don't know all the details, but this morning there was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Someone flew a plane into one of the towers and it collapsed. There has also been an attack on the Pentagon. I am going to dismiss practice early so that you can get ready for your next class."

Immediately some of the girls on the team started to cry. They had close relatives and parents who were in the military and their first thought was that they would have to leave and go to war. The mood was overall very subdued. 

The school district did not cancel school that day, instead all of my teachers gave up trying to lecture and instead turned on coverage of everything that had taken place. That was when we learned that both towers had been hit and both had collapsed. We also heard of a fourth plane (believed to be headed for Camp David) that had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. 

I was calm all day long. I did not really feel scared inside the walls of my school. It wasn't until after school when I drove to pick up my little brother from daycare, that I really began to be frightened. I saw lines of cars waiting to get gas. In my small town, there were rumors of a foreign invasion. I was terrified. The next few days were so sad. I watched all the coverage and saw people leaping out of the buildings. I hope I never have to make a choice like the one they had to make.

In the following weeks, stories of hope came out. It appeared that among all this misery and sadness, there was still good. September 11th will always have a special place in my heart. I will never forget. It is the day that so many Americans lost their lives in an evil plot devised to tear us apart. It is the day after Laura Biles Brown's birthday. It is the day before Jennifer Eure Fuentes birthday. It is the day that I bought my wedding dress in 2004. And it is the day that my little girl's fourth tooth broke through the surface. An ordinary day turned extraordinary.