Where were you?

Where were you on that fateful day?

Where were you when the world changed?

Where were you on 9/11/01?

If you were above the age of about five, I am sure you remember.

I sure do.

It was the second day on a new job, Big Girl was barely six months old and at a new day care. 

I remember.

I remember being in my office and seeing all these people talking in the hallways. I remember seeing people gathering in conference rooms.  I remember someone stopping by my office door to see if I’d heard.

I remember trying to get on the news websites – and all of them being so jammed with other people trying to do the same thing that they wouldn’t load.

I remember calling my mom, over four hours away, to have her tell me what was happening as they watched it on television.

I remember the disbelief. I remember the fear. I remember making the decision to go and get my baby and go home – that if we were under attack I wanted to have her in my arms regardless of what happened.

I remember sitting in my living room and watching the news in disbelief, words not coming to express what I was feeling. I remember wanting to call my family and friends to make sure they were all okay.

And I remember the weeks and months after – the shock, the sadness, the mourning of people I never even knew.  I remember wondering if there would be more…

I remember the day that our world changed.

And I can’t help but remember and then think about the people in other parts of the world who deal with terrorism and uncertainty as a part of their daily lives.  I can’t help but think that, without diminishing the horror of that day, that we are so lucky where we live that we have relative peace and safety on a daily basis.

And, so, as I remember today and pray for those who were left behind, I also think about and pray for those for whom terror and fear and war and bloodshed are a part of their every day lives.

Where were you?