Where were you when you heard?

When you hear the question these days, you know exactly what they’re really asking. Where were you 10 years ago when our world changed? Where were you when the unexplainable happened? Where were you when planes rammed into buildings and the towers fell?

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been 10 years since that horrific day. Like so many Americans, I’m still trying to understand it. I watched the terror unfold on television. I didn’t move for a good three hours once I started watching. Going to work felt moot, so I didn’t. Neither did anybody else. I just stood at the end of my bed and watched, chin open, eyes not believing what I was seeing.

I remember thinking, “Why today? It’s just a Tuesday An ordinary Tuesday. It looks like a nice, sunny Tuesday in New York. Why today?” By the way, I didn't have to look up the day of the week. I remember that. I remember thinking how quiet it was with no planes in the sky. I remember wanting to wrap myself in an American flag and cry for my country.

For my generation, 9/11 is the moment that Kennedy’s assassination was for my parents’ generation and Pearl Harbor was for my grandparents. As someone born a few years after Kennedy was shot, I never really understood why my folks talked about where they were when they heard about Kennedy until 9/11. I never understood why they always mentioned it on my Aunt’s birthday until 9/11. For me, Kennedy’s death remains the part of a movie when everyone cried and I could only look around and wonder why. 9/11 will be like that for my kids, I suppose. It’s a part of history they’ll never really understand on an emotional level.

I’m a West Coast girl. I’ve been to New York, but only on business. I’ve seen the airports, a couple hotels, a couple of meeting rooms and that’s about it. Never been to the Statue of Liberty, Central Park or the Empire State Building. I don’t know anyone who died on 9/11, but it doesn’t change the loss I felt that day and still feel watching the old clips. So sad so many innocent people died. So sad it was all so senseless. So sad the victims never knew the loss the nation felt at their passing.

I don’t know that I’ll do anything special today. My friend who is a pilot will be flying. So, I’ll say more than a few prayers for her. If I see a firefighter, I’ll probably thank him. It’s a symbolic gesture at best, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the most heartfelt thing I can do.