9/11/00 Remembered

I left for work at 7 am. The day was beginning to warm. September weather is always unpredictable. I left on time that morning, for the two hour trip into work. The interstate was sparsely populated as I neared Macon, I listened to the radio to keep myself alert. Thinking over the happening of the day before the radio blended into the background, till the news came on. I hate listening to the news, as I reached for the radio, the announcer repeated, " ... a suspected terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers...", my hand stalled on the volume control, "Did I hear right?" I turned up the volume to verify, and the announcer stated again in a rather agitated voice, "We have been attacked. A plane just hit the World Trade Center, .... the rest is garbled as I looked about at a rather quiet morning turning surreal. I was just in front of the Macon Collisum on I-16, nearing the exit to my job which was less than five miles away. As I continued to listen and try to focus on driving, the announcement came that the National Guard was being activated. My dad was active, and here I was two hours away. I pulled into the parking lot of work, went inside, the workers had the TV in the conference room on. There I heard the second plane had struck, and another unidentified was heading toward the Pentagon. I tried to call home, my kids were in school. The phones lines were tied up. Everything was busy. I was beginning to panic, so I called my sister in Vancouver, who was still sleeping, " We are at war," is the first thing I remember saying to her. She turned on the TV at that point and saw what we were seeing here. I asked her to call Dad, and I would call her back. I followed the news throughout the day. And we were able to leave work earlier than normal. I made it home and hugged all my kids and counted my blessings as well as said prayers for the lives lost, the workers who were still continuing to save the lives that were in balance. And I went to bed knowing that our lives and world had changed.....