Ten years ago today, an event that would change the course of American lives took place. It will be featured significantly in history books as the day the United States lost its innocence. Things we as Americans long took for granted would be gone when two planes plowed into the Twin Towers and forever changed the New York skyline. The loss of lives numbered 2752 while 3000 people survived. But as we know from these last ten years, the United States lost so much more than that.<\/p>\n
This post today is in memory of that, all that we lost. It’s also to celebrate all we still have and all we’ve managed to regain, because I do believe we’ve healed and are stronger for all we’ve endured.
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\nOn 2001, September 11th, I boarded a plane in New Jersey at the Newark airport. In preparation for my move back to New Jersey from Illinois, I had been in New York interviewing for a job the day before and was on my way back home to sell my house. I had a very early flight and it took off on time around 7:00 am. I was completely oblivious to what was going on anywhere really until our flight was nearing O’Hare and one of the passengers said a small plane flew into one of the Twin Towers. There was shock and concern but we thought the casualty list would be short. We all thought it was a tragic event of a poor pilot losing their way and then losing control of the plane. An accident.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until I was off the plane and walking through the airport to collect my bags when I saw others on my flight gathering around one of the television screens. That is when we all saw the second plane plow directly in the second tower. I remember a chorus of gasps, mine included. It was the most surreal experience. For a several seconds it was hard to process what I was seeing. That’s when the awful truth dawned. This had all been deliberate. The United States was suffering the most deadly terrorist attack in our history.<\/p>\n
Everything from that moment on was a blur. I can’t even remember getting my bags, I just remembered the sound of the broadcaster’s voice on the way home when he announced the twin towers had collapsed. That’s about when I did, crying my heart out all the way home. By the time I got home I was a wreck\u00a0 but I had to call my parents and my siblings and let them know I was okay. For the next solid month or so, I was glued to the tv watching every bit of coverage I possibly could and crying many more tears.<\/p>\n
I had to fly back to Illinois the following month to close on my house. It was probably the hardest flight I’d ever taken.<\/p>\n
What about you? What were you doing when the planes flew into the towers and the third plane crashed in PA?<\/strong> Have the events of 9\/11 personally changed your life. If so, how?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ten years ago today, an event that would change the course of American lives took place. It will be featured significantly in history books as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[248,356],"class_list":["post-7206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","tag-editorial","tag-memorial"],"yoast_head":"\n