Remembering 9/11

I can't believe the 5th anniversary of this day is approaching...I can't believe 5 years have actually passed since that awful day.

Like everyone else I can remember where I was, what was happening, what I thought when I heard "the news." Just like I remember when and where I was when the Challenger blew up and when the bombing in Oklahoma happened. It's one of those days that you just can't forget.

I remember...I had just arrived to work and usually the first thing I did was pull up USA Today online to scan the news. They had a breaking news flash with a picture of the burning World Trade Center. All I remember it saying was something about a plane crashed into the building. There was no link to an article to read what happened as it was still that fresh.

I remember...thinking how strange it was that a plane would crash into that building - how could the pilot have done that? Especially a big airliner...why would it even have been on such a path.

I remember...a coworker walking down the hallway informing us that he just heard on his radio that another plane had crashed. That's not possible I thought. Surely that was a mistake - sensational journalism or something. I kept hitting refresh on my browser but didn't see anything about the 2nd plane yet. I tried CNN.com and all the online news sites I could think of. There couldn't possibly be two planes that crashed into the WTC.

I remember...brushing thoughts of the planes being hijacked out of my head. That sort of stuff doesn't, can't, happen on American soil...right? There is just no way. How could planes actually be hijacked here? No, I just refused to believe it.

I remember...the news coming in about the 3rd plane hitting the Pentagon. It just seemed so surreal, like something out of a Hollywood motion picture. Not another one. We didn't have a TV at work so we relied on the internet and what we could get off the radio. At some point I called Joe at work in disbelief of all that was happening.

I remember...when the 4th plane crashed in PA thinking that one had to be an accident. It just couldn't have been a 4th hijacked plane. Maybe that one really did have mechanical errors and just went down; after all it didn't crash into a building.

I remember...not being able to really concentrate at work; who could do anything work-related when we didn't even really know what was going on out there? It was so quiet in the hallways, the only talk was about what was happening. How could 4 planes be hijacked in the US? How many were still in the air? How many more had hijackers on them?

I remember...finally going home at the end of the day. The first thing I did upon walking in the house was turning on the TV. I just sat on the couch transfixed by the carnage I saw. This was the first I was able to see (besides some pictures coming through the news sites online). It was like driving by a car accident and you can't tear your eyes away. I couldn't stop watching.

I remember...feeling so helpless. Feeling dumbfounded at the absolute devastation that had happened, feeling overwhelmed, feeling the tears running down my face as the death toll numbers just kept rising and rising.

I remember...Joe finally getting home from work and just hugging him and crying for the senselessness of it all, I couldn't even wrap my mind around the sheer numbers of lives lost.

I remember...this happened on a Tues, we were to fly out on Sat to head for Miami and on Sun take a cruise for our first anniversary/belated honeymoon. I never enjoyed flying before, so how the heck did I think I would even imagine being able to step on a plane again...especially 4 days later? The fear of being on a plane was too much, but turns out I didn't have to worry about it. Even though the airlines were somewhat up and running by then, too many flights were canceled - including ours. The cruise ship still took off that Sun, but without us. We were able to get vouchers since our flight was cancelled. We did end up going in Dec.

I remember...and I will say a prayer of rememberance for those families who lost a loved on.

If you have your own memories of that day you'd like to share go leave your link on Shannon's blog.