9/11

It's amazing to me how quickly time has gone by. It's been EIGHT years since 9/11/01. Eight years is a long time, but I remember it well.

I was a senior in college. I was getting ready for my 11:00 Marketing class in my bedroom of the duplex I was sharing with a dear friend. I had my TV on, as always, watching the news while drying my hair and putting on makeup.

I remember the news was replaying over and over the image of the plane hitting the first building and then the second. I remember thinking, "Oh my God, all those people..." I called my Mom in tears.

My roommate had spent the summer before in New York as an intern with her major. She'd been in Manhattan, had seen the Twin Towers up close. The devastation hit her hard.

I remember screaming to her the minute the first building started to collapse! "HEATHER! ARE YOU SEEING THIS! THE BUILDING IS FALLING!"

I was shocked... in disbelief... horrified at what I was watching.

It was a national tragedy. It still is.

I left my apartment and headed to my class... certain that my professor would cancel class in light of the situation that was occuring. I thought for sure he would want us to go home and watch the media coverage.

I was wrong. I remember thinking how cold and callous he seemed about the entire situation. I was filled with grief for the thousands of people who lost their lives and all the others who lost family members.

He even admitted that his own mother was living in Manhattan at the time. He was unable to get in touch with her due to all the panic and telephone lines being jammed. I remember thinking he was crazy. How could we continue class?

No one was able to concentrate. You could see it on the face of everyone in the room. But he went on and lectured about something. I have no idea what he said. To this day I don't recall a single thing about that class.

For my generation, the 9/11 tragedy is like the Kennedy assassination of our parents generation. They will always remember where they were when they heard the news about John F. Kenndy.

I will always remember where I was when I saw the Towers fall.