10 Years ago, I had been married to Nathan for nearly 2 years. We were living in an apartment, and I was still trying to figure out my job at the library after loosing my first supervisor.
I heard about what was happening on the East coast, from a campus e-mail which said that a plane had hit the Pentagon. Trying to get a news site on the Internet was not working, as the surge in traffic had made them all impossible to load. On top of that, we did not have access to a TV in my building, so I sat in the station's office and listened to the radio. It made me feel an odd correlation to the people who had huddled around the radio during Pearl Harbor. The same sense of horrified, historical importance crossed my mind more than once. At lunch I walked down to the lake. It was so calm and peaceful, but I couldn't help but think about how much the events I had just 'witnessed'... were going to change the entire world. Although my life was pretty good, that day, the future seemed so scary and unknown.
I heard about what was happening on the East coast, from a campus e-mail which said that a plane had hit the Pentagon. Trying to get a news site on the Internet was not working, as the surge in traffic had made them all impossible to load. On top of that, we did not have access to a TV in my building, so I sat in the station's office and listened to the radio. It made me feel an odd correlation to the people who had huddled around the radio during Pearl Harbor. The same sense of horrified, historical importance crossed my mind more than once. At lunch I walked down to the lake. It was so calm and peaceful, but I couldn't help but think about how much the events I had just 'witnessed'... were going to change the entire world. Although my life was pretty good, that day, the future seemed so scary and unknown.It's 10 years later now. I'm still married to Nathan and love him more than ever. We were blessed with our beautiful daughter - when 9 years ago I was told I may never be able to have kids. I just got a promotion at the job that I was so unsure of ten years ago (7 supervisors later). I have been fortunate to get back into teaching color guard again, which has given me many amazing friends and great memories. We moved out of that apartment and bought our first home. Now, we will be selling it in a few weeks to live in the house of my dreams. My life has changed for the better in so many ways, I can't help feeling blessed. Hailey is even going to kindergarten in the same elementary school that I went to.
Most of us are fortunate that we only lost our naivety and inflated sense of national security on 9-11. Thousands of others lost so much more 10 years ago. I can only hope, on this day in particular, that they have been able to find some measure of peace in their lives. The sacrifice of so many and the heroism of so many more, should touch everyone of us in some way. We have been given the gift of perspective, the ability show our love to family and friends and the chance to make our lives what they were meant to be.
It took me 4 years before I could delete that original e-mail about the Pentagon. Like the rest of the nation, that day will always be burned into my memory. The feeling of loss was so overwhelming and the future seemed so frightening. I never could have imagined then that the next ten years would bring so much joy to my life. Every day is truly a gift. I hope that I remember what is most important for the next ten years as well.
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