We Remember

This is one of those days when you think back to exactly where you were when you got the news that the unthinkable had happened. I remember walking my daughter Gabbie to her first day of third grade at a new school. We were walking through the parking lot and I’d briefly heard something on the radio. As I and other parents made our way to the school entrance I remember the light of day felt different and confusion and disbelief were plastered on faces that had already heard the news. I didn’t get the whole story from the news about what had happened because it was a short drive to the school but as I dropped my daughter off and got back in the car I heard more reports. I worked at a bank at the time and there was talk of closing it because we were not sure if our headquarters, a downtown high rise building would be closed because no one knew if there were more attacks lined up. That day at work I lived on the edge of my seat. People came in and withdrew all their money in cash, some made large transfers, others got into their safe deposit boxes and in between helping customers we all watched the news.  It was a day unlike any other. That evening as I washed dishes I heard some more news reports and they were talking about the people who were jumping out of the remaining parts of the towers. I sobbed. I couldn’t believe this. What was happening to this world? Everything felt uncertain and unsafe. Do I even take my daughter to school or go to work the next day? I did go to work, and she did go to school and we kept on. In the days that followed more and more stories of acts of heroism and the unity of the American people began to rise out of the ashes. For every flash on tv of the towers being hit there was a story of someone running up a stairwell to help when everyone was running out or something equally heroic.

So today as I go to work and remember the day that shook our nation to its core I remember the innocent lives lost, the fallen heroes and the amazing resiliency God has built into us as a nation and as a people. We will not fear. We will not shrink back. We will live in the freedom that God has called us to.

9/11/01, I will never forget.

With all my heart,

Sonia