Where were you when the world stopped turning?

I know, I know!!!!!! It has been forrrrrrrrrreeeeeeevvvvvveeeerrrrrr since I updated my blog. I feel like my inspiration has been zapped lately. Well, perhaps it hasn't been zapped, just relocated to my daily performances in the classroom. Today, however, my inspiration returned.

Today. September 11, 2013. Twelve years. WOW. On one hand, it feels like we are so far removed from the events of 12 years ago. On the other hand, it feels like it was just yesterday. Anyone old enough to fully remember events can tell you where they were on the beautiful morning of September 11, 2001. All over Facebook today, people were recounting their recollections. In a weird way, I enjoy reading people's accounts of where they were when the world truly stopped turning for us. It gives me hope that those innocent people whose lives were cut way too short will NEVER be forgotten. Even if we didn't know any of the victims, we still remember the horrific images and the lasting memories of that day. It is forever going to be etched into my mind. I don't think, even if I wanted to, I could forget September 11, 2001.

I was teaching in Classroom 143 at the Donley TEC Building on KidsPeace's Main Campus in Orefield, PA. We had just gotten started with our morning routines when  the classroom phone rang. My classroom aide answered the phone and immediately told me to turn on the TV. In an instant, the images displayed on the television screen was of billowing smoke coming from the World Trade Center. It took a moment for my mind to register WHAT I was looking at. I first thought it was the anniversary of the first attack on the WTC, but quickly remember THAT was the basement and I believed in February. No, this was live. This was happening RIGHT THEN. The classroom was utterly quiet as we watched the events unfolding. My heart was heavy. I immediately called my dad (because he was the first person I thought of to call) to see if he had seen this, if he had heard. He was teaching 4th grade in the Whitehall Coplay School District at the time. He told me to sit tight, it would all be OK.

My class and I continued watching the events, hearing about possible attacks coming in Washington DC. My thoughts kept flitting between my uncle and my cousin, both of whom are Secret Service agents. I couldn't help but feel like a huge heavy weight was on my shoulders. As the minutes turned into an hour, we watched in horror as the South Tower collapsed at 9:59am. Immediately my heart sank. At the time, I was married to a volunteer firefighter and was VERY involved in our local fire company. The only thing I could think of at that very moment was, "OH MY GOD. ALL THOSE FIREFIGHTERS and EMS WORKERS." I knew that more often than not, the emergency services rush into perilous scenes while everyone else was rushing out. I knew that September 11, 2001 was no different. As I watched the huge tower of a building collapse almost into itself, the tears began to freely flow down my face as I thought of the numerous firefighters who would not be returning home to their families. And then.....at 10:28am I watched, completely numb to my surroundings, as the North Tower collapsed. There was no way there could be any survivors to this blatant attack on OUR soil, on AMERICA'S SOIL.

We were asked to turn our classroom televisions off, but in one of the only ever professional acts of noncompliance I ever did, I refused to turn it off. We watched all day as the news reports filtered in of hijacking aboard more planes. We learned of the Pentagon attack and of the hijacked plane that was supposedly heading to the White House or Capitol Building, but ended up downed in a field in western Pennsylvania. We learned of the many, countless people who were unaccounted for. We watched as people searched for, cried out for, and held out hope for their loved ones. And as the day of the event started coming to a close, we all questioned the same thing, "Why?"

In the days following September 11, 2001, our nation came together. It didn't matter whether you were Democrat, Independent, or Republican, we ALL wore our red, white, and blue. We sang our Patriotic songs. We hung flags wherever we could. We professed to be a nation that would NOT cower to terrorists. I still can not listen to Lee Greenwood's hit song, "Proud to Be An American" without getting tears in my eyes. I've watched nearly every documentary on September 11, 2001. I've read a lot of articles on the events of that day. I will NEVER forget.

My heart still aches for the 343 FDNY firefighters who lost their lives simply answering the call. In the months after the attacks, Bruce Springsteen recorded one of my favorite albums, The Rising, in which most of the songs were inspired from the events of September 11. Into The Fire still chokes me up when I hear the lines: It was dark, too dark to see, you held me in the light you gave; You lay your hand on me, Then walked into the darkness of your smoky grave. Somewhere up the stairs into the fire. Somewhere up the stairs into the fire. I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher. Somewhere up the stairs into the fire.

In the Spring of 2002, I had my first student at KidsPeace who was a child of a victim. I was unsure how I was going to be able to work with this young man, whose pain I could not even imagine. When the hurt is there for me and I didn't personally know anyone who perished, how could I make this boy feel better? And then we talked......he shared his stories about September 11 with me. He told me of his father, who worked at Marsh and McLennan on the 99th floor of WTC 1 when the attack happened and I made a promise to him at that moment, that every September 11 from here on out, I would find some way to remember his father. It is a promise I have honored in the twelve years since the attack and will continue to honor as long as I am living. I remember......

Where were you when the world stopped turning..........?