September 11 Anniversary

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center in New York City. Today is the day that as Americans we stand together and mourn the loss we endured. It was a tragic day for our country. I remember exactly what I was doing on that day. I was at work. I was working as a billing clerk at a doctors office. I was upstairs going through patient files to bill their insurance and I had the radio on. I heard Dan Rather's voice come on and say that a plane had hit the first tower. I paused to listen for a moment. My only thought was "how sad for all of those families" and I went back to work. It wasn't until a few minutes later when the second plane hit and then the third plane went down at the Pentagon that the true reality had set in on what had just happened. Our entire office was stunned. None of us could believe what had happened. I remember my boss was in tears because her husband was on his way home from a trip to NYC and she was terrified that he may have been on one of those planes. Thankfully he wasn't. He was, however, boarding his flight which was immediately grounded - as were all flights that day. Gas prices immediately shot up. Chaos was everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on or what to expect. I was a single mom with two little kids at home - I was terrified. Of course that's exactly what they wanted - the terrorists. They want us to be scared of them. I don't understand it. I probably never will. I do know that I will be giving each of my kids one more hug before I put them to bed tonight. Below are a few pictures I found on MSNBC from the ceremony that was held this morning in NYC at the WTC site.