When dates in your life approach on the calendar emotions arise. The events of 9/11 still have great impact on the world. While speaking to friends this week, on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, we recall exactly where we were and what we were doing the morning we heard the news. Twenty years, my memories of 9/11, and what I didn’t know are told in this blog.
Where Were You When You Heard the News on 9/11?
September of 2001 brought exciting new beginnings for us. We were new residents to Texas having moved from Seattle to a town north of Houston in the summer of that year. It was a beautiful, warm, fall morning in Texas. Our youngest son was a few blocks away safely tucked in his classes at middle school. My husband was an hour’s drive away in Houston, a large city where the oil and gas industry drove the economy. Our oldest son was in his freshman year at college and remained in Washington state for a couple of reasons. He wanted to be near his high school friends he was connected with, and he was in the Army reserves at the time. His home base for the Army was in Washington.
I was getting ready for a drive into Houston to meet my long-time friend. We were now in the same city, and it was so great to be able to meet her for lunch and a girls’ day out. Oddly enough, I remember exactly what I had for breakfast before leaving the morning of 9/11. As I sat eating my bowl of raisin bran the TV was on in the background. Suddenly, they broke in with the horrific photos. I sat on my sofa with a bowl of cereal in my lap feeling numb, stunned, and not knowing what to do next.
Details of What I Did Next on 9/11
After absorbing the shock of what just happened, I called my friend first. We had few words but knew today’s lunch would be cancelled. Both of us were concerned about our husbands who worked in high-rise office buildings in downtown Houston. We decided to contact our families and would regroup later. My next phone call was to my husband. He was making plans to come home early. Safety concerns and protocols were already in place for employees.
I felt my youngest son was safe where he was with his classmates at school. As a classroom teacher, I knew his safety was paramount to the administrators. Going down to pick him up would only cause undo chaos and confusion so I kept the TV on for any local public announcements from district schools.
Events progressed on TV as I sat and watched in fear; human lives lost, faces covered in ash, the sound of screaming sirens and the sheer panic in the voices of reporters not knowing how to carefully handle the onslaught of unfolding events. Then it happened. When the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C. my heart sank. I somehow translated this into, we are now at war. With our oldest son over 2,000 miles away and likely still asleep in his dorm room, my throat tightened knowing I had to call him next. He was in the Army reserves, and I knew what this might mean for him.
What I Didn’t Know
I made the phone call knowing he had barely been up since he was two hours behind us. He could hear the worry in my voice and asked, “Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked if he had his TV on. After stepping out into the hall, he found almost every door open with TVs on. The stark reality set in for him now realizing what was happening. I asked him if he heard the Pentagon had been hit. There was silence as we both absorbed what this might mean for him, for us, while feeling the sting of our distance.
There are so many stories, so many dark memories of 9/11. What I didn’t know sitting on my sofa watching TV the morning of 9/11 is I had breast cancer. I felt a small, solid lump in my left breast and was searching for new doctors to get a physical exam to begin what was going to be a difficult year for my family in 2002. The fall of 2001 and the events of 9/11 changed everything for me. I was so excited about moving to Houston for many reasons, but excitement was now overshadowed by these events and what was to come the following year. Moving to a new city and finding new doctors can be challenging and take time as a new patient. It took until January of 2002 to get final results and hear the words; you have breast cancer.
Twenty Years after 9/11 I am Grateful
My heart is heavy for the loss of lives on 9/11 and the impact and ripple affect families continue to feel today. I am grateful in so many ways even after what I didn’t know but how my life has continued since the events of 9/11. The anguish our family went through from my first breast cancer diagnosis in early 2002 is seared in our memories. We dealt with it again in 2014.
How does the human spirit recover from events like this when you face the darkest moments of your life? For our family, like so many who dealt with the agonizing events of 9/11, we held each other up through tears, hugs, listening, and just sitting together in silence some days dealing with my breast cancer diagnoses. We embraced those who supported us and forged friendships. They run deep today because of commitment through tragedy, loss, and sorrow.
Gratitude may be an obscure term to associate with any tragedy, but it continues to be the act of appreciating each day as a gift that has held me up. Words of love, reaching out with a gesture to help, or just hanging around through thick and thin; these actions sustain us through tragedy. Those are my memories after twenty years since 9/11, and what I didn’t know that day.
What do you remember about 9/11 and what you were doing? I’d love to hear from you.
