Josh & I visited the 9|11 Memorial on our first trip to NYC | read the full post here
I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted about where I was on September 11, 2001. It’s hard to write about such tragedy when five years later I delivered the most beautiful baby girl. The tragedy of the day is tempered a bit by that addition to our family on the five year anniversary.
I woke up that morning in my parents’ home. I was living at home for my senior year of college, preparing for graduation and a summer wedding. My dad and I were having coffee before I left for class when the phone rang. My aunt was calling to tell us she wasn’t on the plane in NYC (at the time she was living in DC and traveled regularly to New York). We didn’t even know what she was talking about until we turned on the news. I watch the aftermath of the first plane and was in the car headed for school when the second plane crashed. I followed along on a local talk radio show and checked in with my dad for updates. By the time I reached my class, planes had been grounded and everyone on campus was dumbstruck. My writing seminar watched the news coverage instead of continuing with class. I ended up leaving shortly after “class” began and ran across the street to the printmaking studio (my other home as a senior level printmaking student) where I watched for the next 8 hours with my closest friends.
It is still so hard to believe that it even happened. Nothing about that day seemed real and it still doesn’t, eleven years later. After celebrating a happy occasion with Ella this morning, I found myself in the car listening to 9|11 tributes as I drove to work, sobbing. For a college student in Alabama, I know that the impact of that tragic event was far less than for those living in and around NYC and for those whose loved ones were involved, either directly or indirectly. I also know that the day will be forever etched in my memory. It was a kind of “coming of age” for that small group of art students watching along with the world. It was the moment we realized we aren’t invincible, this country isn’t untouchable, we’re just people and bad things do happen. I will never forget.
