Remembering those from 9/11

9.11.01

It was a mere five months after Mark and I were married.
I was pregnant with Nikayda.

It was a day I'll never forget.

I quit my job shortly after we were married to stay at home. I was really sick with my pregnancy (to the hospital twice for i.v.'s to counter dehydration). So, on the morning of 9.11, I awoke and ran to DQ. We lived in Cokato at the time and I was craving a croissant. It was a gorgeous, sunny, early fall morning. The sky was crystal clear. Oblivious to my surroundings and in a foggy state, I walked into the restaurant. Karen A. (Tom) was working. I chatted with her while waiting for my sandwich.

There was a bit of a commotion within a small group of teens that had gathered near the registers, but I couldn't make out much of what they were saying. Then a kid came bursting through the doors, "Have you heard what happened?!!!"

It didn't sink in, at first. I hadn't even heard of the twin towers before. I grabbed my sandwich and headed for my car. I immediately turned on the radio. The feeling I got when I heard the news is one I'll never forget. And one I can barely explain. It wasn't only the twin towers that had been hit. The Pentagon, as well as Flight 93. We were waiting for what would happen next.

Sheer shock was felt by all, and such an awful sick feeling for those who lost their lives. And the families left behind.

I was on my way to see Mark. (He was building Adam and Michelle A.'s house). As I drove to the house, I couldn't get over the irony of our blue sky. That's something I'll never forget either. How blue our Minnesota sky was at the time. Not a cloud to be seen. It was supposed to be grey, or black, or stormy. Anything but the beautiful, clear blue that it was.

Our world had just fallen down. How could the sky be blue? But looking back, it was blue because it gave us hope.

When I got there, Mark hadn't heard yet and it slips my mind as to whether or not anyone else was there...Adam, Ricko, Nate...I just can't remember at the moment. I'm almost certain one of them was...

So, we ran to the neighbors (Nate & Vicky's) to see it on TV. It was awful. There are no words to explain what it was like to see that raw footage. We didn't stay long, so I didn't see much. But what I did see, made me sick to my stomach. And so sad and heavyhearted.

But in the days...and weeks following the collapse of the towers, there was such a patriotic feeling in our nation. I could feel it. Everyone could feel it. There was so much hope and a feeling of togetherness, as a nation. And it makes me so sad, as this war continues on, that the media is so negative and so anti-war. I don't want a war either, but we need to finish what was started. I only wish that our very liberal media would portray the positive side of this war. Because there is one. That they would do more interviews with troops who DO support the war and the cause. And that as a nation, we could feel as 'one', again ~ as we did on that day, six years ago.