Where Were You?

Ten years ago at 6 AM (Pacific Standard Time) I was getting ready to head out for work. I was listening to my morning radio show as I was getting ready and in between their silly antics they broke the news that a plane had hit one of the twin towers. "How sad," I thought. "What a terrible accident." I didn't think much more of it until a few minutes later the DJ broke in again saying that a second plane had hit the other tower.

We all let that sink in for a few seconds and our minds finally caught up. It was no accident. I swear I could actually feel my brain flipping that switch.

I turned on the TV and saw the breaking news, along with the horrible scene of the second plane hitting. Unfortunately, I had to head in to work, so I got in my car and continued listening to the radio as I drove.

School, unfortunately, started as usual, with my kids (being only third graders) not really knowing what was going on. I talked with them a little bit about it, but realized that their parents hadn't had time to fully fill them in. Our principal had said to continue to teach as usual.

The kids were rowdier, like they could sense the tension in the air. Lots more rough housing. But other than that, they went about the day like any other school day. I'd have to sneak down to the office at recess and lunch to listen to the secretary's radio. That's how I heard about the Pentagon.

Back-to-School Night, scheduled for that day, was obviously cancelled. Instead, we had a meeting after school about what we would say to the kids the next day, as they would surely be exposed to a lot of news and information at home that night.

None of us had any answers.

We simply had to keep going. Keep moving forward.

Where were you?