September 11th

I thought it would be fitting to write down my remembrances of September 11th on today, the 10th anniversary. I've never been to New York and, at the time, didn't know much of anything about the Twin Towers. I was heading to work that morning, when the radio station mentioned the coverage. They could hardly believe it, and I didn't believe it could be real. At that time in my life, I hadn't really been effected by war or terrorists. The Gulf War was my only encounter and it hadn't really impacted me in any way. The thought of some act of war like this was unthinkable, and I had a hard time even comprehending it. I hurried to work, which was quite a drive, and we listened to the coverage when we were there. They only had a cheap TV, but we set it up in the back conference room and most of us sat together and watched it. every once in a while, I tried to get some work done, but it was next to impossible. the morning also brought lots of frantic phone calls to my parents. My little brother, Chris, was serving in the New York, New York North mission at the time. He was serving in near Manhattan a week or two before, but we thought he had been transferred to Poughkepskie, which was at least an hour away. However, he wasn't the best about keeping us up to date and we were worried that maybe he was in Manhattan on a P day or something. My parents made lots of phone calls to the Church office building to confirm. They received a call back, and my dad left me a message at 11:02 a.m. confirming that he was safe. Prior to that, we watched the towers fall, one after the other. It was unthinkable. Unimaginable. My co-worker, Vanessa, had a sister who worked just a block or two away from the twin towers, and she spent the morning frantically calling to make sure her sister was ok. She was unbelievably stressed when the towers fell. Thankfully, she eventually found out her sister was safe. When I went home that night, I spent more time watching the coverage. That night, I remember Jeff and I getting in line at the gas station to get gas. It was the busiest I had ever seen it at the time. I also remember in the days after, trying to make sure we bought some extra food at the case lot sales going on for our food storage. We had been trying to build up our food storage, but after the terrorist attacks, it became even more important to us.
When I talked to my kids today, to discuss September `11th and see if they even knew much of the story, we talked about the hero's. All of the hero's on the flight that fell in Pennsylvania. All of the fire fighters, police officers, and so many other brave people who helped. I am so very grateful for all of the hero's in my life. Not only those that serve the community, but the many others who touch my life in so many ways. September 11th will never be a day I forget. It has shaped our country and will forever shape our country. I hope my children will be able to appreciate how truly historic this day was and continues to be.