Hey everyone. It doesn’t seem that this second anniversary made as big of a deal as last, but it’s still an important day to remember. I didn’t have a journal on September 11th, 2001 or 2002 yet, so I’d like to just put down my experience of that day in history. It’s nothing special really, and doesn’t even come close to most people affected. I didn’t loose any loved ones, and I was here safe. But, I’d still like to say what I remember.
I seriously remember just about the entire day. I was a senior in high school at the time, and my mornings started early as they always did. I was up by 6 and since I live right by the school I’d leave right around 7 and would be one of the first batch of students there. On the way I was listening to the radio like I did every normal morning, except this was when I was in my 97.9 kick listening to the Morning Zoo. I do remember like they say on TV, it was a great day outside and pretty warm. My schedule that year in school was pretty easy in the morning, from 7:36 to 8:15 I was in English. Second period was POD. It was our government class ironically enough, and during that period the plans were being hijacked. At 8:46, just about the time the end bell for that class rang, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the WTC. Then at 9:02 when United Airlines flight 175 hit the south tower, I was just beginning Chamber Singers singing our daily routine warm-up. None of us yet knew about what was happening in New York City. I remember Julia Allen just happened to be wearing a shirt with the twin towers on it. I could be wrong but towards the end of the period when American Airlines flight 77 hit the Pentagon, we were singing “It is well with our soul” . I could be totally wrong on that song, so if you are a fellow chamber singer and remember, correct me please 🙂 . Class was over at 9:45 and then I headed to Geometry. Class started as normal then something strange happened. An office aid came to our door a little before 10:00 and told one of the girls in our glass, Brittany, that her mom wanted her to come home. We really didn’t think too much of it, but she looked really confused and worried. Just a few minutes later the office aid came back and told Noah the same, saying his mom wanted him to go home too. At this point we all knew something was up, and our teacher looked confused. It was soon after a teacher from the room next to ours came in and told us of the attacks. At first we were told the Capital Building had been hit, but we were soon given the correct news about how the Twin Towers had been hit, the pentagon, and that there was still one plane in the air unaccounted for. Ms. Khosler became very uneasy, and said she knew somebody that worked in the Pentagon. She tried to continue the lesson, but she finally gave up and went on her laptop.
I was already a little nervous, and I had no idea the towers were falling down while I was sitting in class. About 10:30, right when the last tower fell I went upstairs where I helped tutor some freshman. I remember the first person I told was out of class, and that was Alisha, and she didn’t know a thing, and I think she thought I was crazy for a sec. Heh. I snuck out of tutoring the freshman and made my way down stairs to a room that had a TV on it and saw footage of New York and the Pentagon for the first time, and it almost made me feel sick.
The rest of the day went normal except all practices were canceled, and I was so glad because all I wanted to do was get home and watch TV. It was such an odd feeling as I drove home from school, every radio station was just news about the attacks, and the same was true for TV. I didn’t do any of my homework that night, I was glued to the televison.
Well that’s my story. I have things I need to do, so I’m going to continue this tomorrow a little about how I went to New York two months after the attacks with the Chamber Singers. Anyway, don’t ever forget 9-11. It’s forever changed our world.