Today is September 11th. Six years ago, it was just another day for making another dollar. But five years ago, the events of the day changed the world forever. Where was I on that fateful day? I was 6,000+ miles away from home sitting in an apartment watching TV while I ate my breakfast. I remember being particularly annoyed that the show I was watching was interrupted by breaking news. I grabbed my cell phone and called my friend Patsi in Seattle. Her sister Colleen worked in one of those buildings. While Patsi and I had the closer connection, I considered Colleen to be a friend. Their entire family became my extended family while I was living in Seattle. I didn't hear till later that day that Colleen was safe and wasn't hurt. I still had to go to my internship. A few of the children saw or heard what had happened that morning. We let them talk about it and they wrote and drew pictures in their journals. As a school community we had to practice lock down drills for weeks and months afterwards. That always freaked me out because what if we really had to do it? I don't think I would have been able to move. I think it was one of the factors that contributed to my decision to move back home when I was done with grad school. I couldn't imagine not being with my family if anything ever happened.
I thought that we wouldn't do anything at school to commemorate the day today. Boy, was I wrong! At 8:46 am, the bell rang and we observed a moment of silence. The radio was put on the loudspeakers. I was so proud of my students! They were so quiet and serene. I had to do a little explaining as these children were 2 when it all happened that September day.
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