Patriot's Day - September 11, 2002

Wednesday - September 11, 2002
Last year on this day:  I was living in an apartment with my friend, Emily.  I had just gotten engaged a few weeks ago and in preparation for my upcoming marriage, I was moving out of our apartment and going to live at my sister, Kari's house until Roger and I got married.

So, I woke up and got straight to work.  Roger called me, shortly after I had started.  He said, "You have got to turn on the tv.  You will not believe what's happening.  An airplane has crashed into the World Trade Center."  I turned on the tv and began my day of packing with moments of staring in disbelief at what I was seeing on the tv.  I really didn't know what to think of all of that.  I didn't want to let myself really think about what was happening.  I might have started to panic and worry that something was going to happen where we live.  It took quite a few days for all of it to register in my brain.  I was loading some things into a box, when the person on the news made a shocked sound.  I looked up just in time to see the image of a second plane crashing into the World Trade Center.  I remember the news people being just as shocked as I was and my brain trying to comprehend that this was real.  This was really happening.

That evening, I went with Roger to my sister Kari's house.  My parents were there also.  We spent the evening just staring at the tv and talking about how unbelievable that it was.

I'm glad that I didn't know anybody directly involved.  That would have been too much for me to handle.  A few years later, when we moved to Tremonton, I met a few people who knew of someone there or who was there.  It was interesting to hear their stories and think about how different that day was for them than it was for me.

Our neighbors the parkers and the Merritts told us their story.  The Parkers are Jeriann Merritt's parents.  The Parkers were in New York and scheduled to eat a brunch on the top of one of the World Trade Center buildings.  Luckily, they weren't in the building when it happened.  They weren't anywhere near all of the commotion.  They had no idea what had happened for quite some time.  As soon as they found out, they tried to call and let their families know they were all right, but they couldn't get through.  the phone lines were too busy.  At home, Jeriann, was watching what was happening in a panic, because she knew that is where her parents were supposed to be that day.  It was a really long day for them, not knowing if her parents were okay or not.

My visiting teacher had a really hard day when it happened, because two of her sons worked in the World Trade Center buildings.  She spent the whole day crying.  She was just sure she had lost both of her sons that day.  Miraculously, they both survived.  She told me about how they had both gotten out, but I can't remember those stories any more.

Here's some pictures of Alissa and I on this yucky anniversary of that horrible scary day.