A day not so unlike this one; sunny blue skies, cool breeze, a perfect September morning. All seemed well, and yet it wasn't. The phone rang. It was Leon from church. He had a prayer chain but it seemed more of an announcement. The World Trade Center towers had been hit by two planes. My goodness! I knew hardly a thing about the twin towers and we didn't even have a television in the house. Out in the barn was a 12 inch black and white tv, left by our home's previous owners. My kids followed me out to the barn and we turned it on. Smoke was billowing from the towers and as the announcer spoke, I thought I saw one tower sway just a little bit. Suddenly, in a surreal moment, it collapsed in a heap on the ground... the second collapse was inevitable and followed shortly after. For the remainder of the day we wandered from the house back to the barn and sat on bales of straw watching our way of life crumbling away. I called my parents. "You need to turn on the tv" I said to my dad. My second son called from the technical center up in town. "I love you" he said before he hung up. My oldest son called from college in Pensacola, Florida. "I love you" he said before he hung up. My mother in law called from Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Are you scared?" she asked. I hadn't even thought about being afraid. New York City is four hundred miles away and besides what good would being afraid do? What I was is stunned.
I never thought through the implications that the terror attacks would have on our lives. I just knew that something had drastically changed. Yes, we felt the unity that occurred in the following days and weeks. We saw the flags and hung one ourselves. We felt the chill of being vulnerable. And we came to learn, or should I say better realize, that we live in a "boarder town". I have lived here along the southern shore of Lake Ontario my entire life and never had to consider that fact. Never was the lake shore patrolled. Never were there armed guards at the power stations. Never did we have to worry about crossing the boarder into Canada. Never did so many people want my ID. Never have I looked so fervently for the return of Jesus.
1864 Arizona Law.
28 minutes ago
Now they've came out with a new holiday called Patriot Day. I had never heard of it until today. Now that I think of it we lived through an historical event And the next genoration will ask us what was it like to have an historical event like 9-11, in our lives.
ReplyDeleteSo, tell me about Patriot Day. I have never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteThat was definitely a day to get in touch with family and friends. Goes to show how you can't take any day for granted. Thanks for posting your memories of that day. I can't imagine watching the towers actually fall in real time. I didn't get to them until well after the fact. Took me hours to get out of DC that day.
ReplyDeletePatriot Day is what Bush has declared September 11 of every year to be so that we can honor the victims of that day. Here's a link with some info about it...http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030904-7.html
Vicky (and Allen), thanks for cluing me in on Patriot Day. I know I have heard of it but sometimes those things just rattle around in my brain and get lost.
ReplyDeleteI remember exactly what I was doing that day as well. I had the day off and spent it cleaning my house and grocery shopping. I never heard that anything had happened until Dave called me at about 1:30 and said, "Can you believe what's going on?" I was clueless, and then he told me. It was absolutely shocking, and I was also glued to the TV. I liked it that our country seemed so unified afterwards and there were many that seemed to turn to God. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people drifted away from Him very quickly once the shock wore off and people started feeling safer. It was really NEAT seeing groups of people praying afterwards.
ReplyDeleteHi people.
ReplyDeleteHi people.
ReplyDeleteComputers are confusing.
ReplyDeleteI remember that on that day I took Audra to preschool late...because I had given her a special shampoo job because I was afraid she had lice. (she did) Debbie Thompson told me what was going on and I went to the church office where a TV was set up. It didn't seem real at the time and it didn't register the seriousness of it. I guess I was shocked. I went home and turned on the TV. I saw the towers fall...but again it didn't register that it was really happening.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's niece had a job just a block away from the towers. She took the train into the city and got off at the towers when she would go to work. I was wondering how she was doing. I learned from my sister-in-law that she was fine...but they weren't sure where her boyfriend, Tom was. He worked for a company who had offices in the trade center. Sometimes Tom was there...but not usually. As it turned out, he was in his normal office in a different part of the city that morning, so he was ok.
I remember the days following, watching TV and all that was going on while Mom and I picked knits out of Audra's hair. We managed to eventually win the war against lice. We are still waiting to win the was against terrorism.
Wow. I agree - Come Lord Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI was really too young to remember much. The day before 9-11 I didn't really even know what the twin towers were. All I remember was a lot of talk about it and I vaguely remember siting on the couch whatching the news with dad for about 2 weeks. I also remember seeing on the news some rubble collapsing from the towers and I remember asking dad "Are they showing this on the news in texas?" and him repling "most likely." So I was just too little to quite understand life.
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