Greetings from Nevada! I hope it’s been a great week.

Where were you when the world stopped turning, on that September day?

Those are the words at the beginning of a beautiful song talking about the tragic events of September 11, 2001. What a horrific day in our country.

I overslept that morning. I had been up late the night before studying for Accounting, which was probably one of the toughest classes I had in college. I had Accounting on Tuesday and Thursdays, and I was up late on the Monday night preparing for that class.

I woke up a little late and had to rush. You did NOT get to that class late. If you weren’t in your seat when she shut the door, anything you did that day, didn’t count for you. So, if there was a quiz, or any type of grade taken in class, you got a zero. I got in my car and was hurrying and only vaguely listening to the radio. What I was hearing made no sense, and I assumed it was because my brain wasn’t fully functioning. I parked, rushed to the Business School building, and when I walked into the main floor, where there was a restaurant and seating area. I had made it a little before class started and sat down with a sigh next to the guy who I always sat by in class.

He was completely engrossed in the television. I looked up and that’s when I saw the towers on fire.

At this point, they had actually already fallen, but I had no idea. I remember sitting there with my mouth open in shock, unable to take my eyes off the television. When they replayed them falling, I remember gasping in shock and wanting to cry. It was time for class to start and I didn’t’ want to get up and walk in, but I did. We all did. Our professor was in shock herself but tried to carry on. I can’t tell you what we talked about that day, or if I even retained anything she went over.

I remember leaving class and rushing back to my apartment. When I walked in, my roommate was on the couch watching TV in tears. I sat down next to her and we held each other and watched the news and cried.

 

I remember the days following, and how our entire country seemed to come together against a common enemy.

I remember waiting in line for hours to donate blood, with hope it would help someone, even if it wasn’t someone helping on the “front lines”.

I remember a candlelight vigil outside of the dorms, with a huge American flag draped down the side.

So many people stood around, in silence, only the sounds of sniffles in the air. It was beautiful. It was encouraging. It was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time.

My children won’t ever truly understand the devastation of that day. I hope there is never another event in our country that occurs to give them a glimpse of what that was like.

I hope that one day, our country can get back to the days after 9/11. To that unity. To that love of our neighbors, even without knowing them. That is my current prayer.

Until next week, make it a great one!

Amy