Remembering

With the anniversary of September 11th upon us, I thought I'd share where I was when that happened.

I was at work (in Chevy Chase, at the GEICO headquarters) when one of my co-workers heard it over the radio. Right away, I called my parents to tell them that I was OK and New York was about 4 hours away.

Then the Pentagon got hit. Mom freaked, but not too badly. Dad was pretty calm about the whole thing, as was my (ex) mother-in-law. In fact, I had the two of them call each other to kind of support each other, you know? My sister was glad to know I was OK too, but the company she worked for at the time had an office on Long Island that suffered losses, and it was a sad day for them too.

I got home like normal (no awful traffic jams), and encountered my husband who had been home sick the whole day. Apparently, he was the only person in America who did not have the TV or the radio on, because when I told him what happened, he asked, "What's the punch line?"

"There is none," I answered.

His reply was, "Whoa."

I called home to let my mom know I was OK and no mass hysteria occured on the freeway. My oldest niece took the phone away from Mom and asked, "Are you all right? Are you close to the Pentagon? Where's the Pentagon? WHAT's the Pentagon? Why would someone do this?" She was 9 years old at the time, and old enough to be scared...the more you know, the more fears you have, you see. Her brother and sister were aware that something happened, but too young to process the complexities. Lucky kids...

I didn't see the news footage until the next day, and when I did, it was so unreal. Movie special effects are just too good. It was horrific to see the people running and the buildings falling all around them.

As time went on, people talked about it, dressed in red, white and blue, and went to church more. But then it was less. Not much less, but less.

Now, it's "business as usual"...or is it? I still remember, but it's not as vivid as it once was. People have asked me since 9/11 why I'm still here on the East Coast. My answer? "Why not?" I'm not a superhero for living out here, but I'm not going to run back home just because of 9/11's events.

A true American wouldn't do that.

Please share your memories of 9/11 with me...I'd like to know about them.

Sudiegirl