It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since the day the United States came to a screeching halt. Just thinking about it is bringing up a lot of the emotion that I felt back then.

I had just pulled up to the 7-11 when a story broke on the local radio station that a plane had crashed into the towers. I remember talking about it with the clerk and other customers in the store. Little did we know at that point.

I went home and turned on the television and watched in horror as yet another plane crashed into the tower. I cried and then I got scared.

Later that day I found out my nephew was in New York and scheduled to be the chef at an event in one of the towers. We were frantic trying to get news about him. As it turns out, he woke up that morning not feeling well and called in. Relief doesn't even begin to describe it. Others weren't so lucky. So many lives lost that day, so much destruction.

I remember our country coming together in a way I had never seen in my lifetime. It was amazing and awe inspiring.

I hope we never forget.

Do you remember that day?

I remember thinking that if I were just a little younger I'd joint the military and go get the beastards.

And, now, our son in in the military.

*sigh*

I was 12 years old and wondering why I had been pulled out of middle school because we were going to have cake at the school lunch. (I think it was because my family feared there might be another crash into a nuclear power plant or something...I live in VA)

Of course, then we got in the car and the radio was switched on...and I started getting scared.

There are three airports in our area and the air traffic over the house was always steady - something that you accept as part of your life's background noise.I remember standing outside that afternoon, listening to...silence. The jolting, frightening silence of no planes flying.

I remember watching the first tower burning on TV. I thought it was such a terrible accident. Then out of the corner of the screen came the second plane. I knew then it was an attack. Later I heard about the pentagon.

For weeks afterwards, the fire engines had large American flags tied to the back. When they drove by, with those flags whipping in the wind I felt very moved.

And it was strangely quiet, not hearing planes in the sky.

It was not very long ago really.
It is one of those events that no matter how much time goes past......it will still make one's blood run cold with horror thinking about it. The cruelty. The warped people who implemented it. The emotional and physical pain and suffering of so many people and their families and friends.

We were assigned in Germany, working on Army installations and living in a small German village. I was on the telephone at work when I was told something was happening on the television. At first, it seemed like a terrible accident. Then came the realization of what was actually happening.

In a few hours, everything changed. Access to the military installations was curtailed. We were in hour after hour of meetings dealing with post security. A few local incidents happened involving terrorist sympathizers assaulting Soldiers on their way to work. We were told to wear civilian clothes to and from work. We had several anthrax scares.

Leaves were canceled for a few weeks. The first leave we took was on a holiday weekend and we went skiing in Switzerland with many other military. At a group dinner, cell phones were ringing like crazy, telling us that we were attacking Afghanistan. It was surreal.

A few days after 9/11, our landlord told us that someone had been parking outside the house evenings. It turned out it was a private investigator hired by a suspicious husband to watch his wayward wife across the street.

The Germans were shocked and sympathetic. A couple of days after 9/11, we attended a memorial service in the city cathedral. It was packed with hundreds, maybe a thousand people. In the following winter, the Germans often would bring soup to the Soldier guards out in the sub-zero weather.

In February of 2003, H left for Kuwait. In March, I was taking our sons on a ski trip to Switzerland when H called to let me know he would not be able to talk for some time. I knew that meant we were launching the attack into Iraq. He returned to Germany in February 2004, a very different person.

Nothing has been so innocent since then. A prayed to all those who lost their lives on that day, to all those families who have been changed forever, and to those effected who have survived.

AM