History.... According to Me.....

20 years ago yesterday I was in the second grade, two days away from my 7th birthday. When I got off the bus that day my mom was waiting for me. We took a walk down a dirt road near my house. It was on that walk that she told me her mother, my memere, had died. She'd been diagnosed with cancer in June, and as expected had passed away. Two days later, I spent my 7th birthday with Elisabeth and her family while my parents attended my grandmother's funeral. 5 years ago today I was student teaching in Syracuse, NY. I was walking back to the classroom I shared with my cooperating teacher after rushing to make some last minute copies. The school's principal approached us in the hallway saying that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. Immediately I asked if there were injuries. No one seemed to know any details. I was imagining small 1-2 seaters at the base of the tower.... As soon as we made it back to the room, my cooperating teacher tuned in to local radio. We listened in shock to the reports. Hearing shortly that a second tower had been hit. Not long after, I almost collapsed when the radio announcer said the towers had fallen. I spent the rest of the morning explaining the details I had, and trying to keep my students minds off of the tragedy. I scolded a few immature freshmen who thought World War III was about to begin and that that was the coolest thing ever. During a late morning class, one of my student's father (a teacher at the school) knocked on my door and called his son out of class. (We had just learned about the plane that hit the Pentagon, Tim's older brother worked there). It felt as though I was holding my breath until he came back into the room. I asked if everything was ok, although I could already read in his face that it was. He said they'd started evacuating as soon as the planes hit the towers and that his brother had been running across the lawn as the plane hit. I spent the remainder of the day in the auditorium watching and rewatching the footage. At the end of the day, I rushed through the door to the house where I was staying, turned on the news and called my parents to see if our friends and family had heard from everyone I knew in New York. The 12th of September has been my birthday for the past 27 years. As it approaches once again, I am reminded of some of the not so good times surrounding it. Tonight, on the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, I've been watching the coverage which has included showing much of the original footage. I am still moved by what I see. I still shiver with goosebumps as I think about that terrible day. But I am reminded that there is hope.