Where Were YOU?

As we all know it's the tenth anniversary of 9/11 (a day late). We can't turn on the TV without hearing about it right? I really can't believe it's been ten years since that day. So much has changed because of that day. Airports have changed so much since then. Remember the days when we could just go up to the gate and wait for someone? Remember the lack o' security there? It doesn't seem that long ago. So the question is, where were you that morning?

I had been married a little over a year and living in our apartment in Provo. I was getting ready for work at Ancestry.com. I turned on the news and of course saw the World Trade Towers and saw the North Tower on fire. The news people seemed confused and were telling us they thought a plane had flown into the building. I immediately thought it was a small private plane that had accidentally hit the building. Then there it was, that really frightening moment the cameras caught on tape, of a huge plane very deliberately fly full speed into the other tower. That was CRAZY! It still is. When I see that image replayed it still scares me. It's almost unbelievable. I had to get to work, but I remember hearing more of what was going on throughout the day and I remember realizing that those weren't just private or cargo planes, but planes full of people. So sad and so scary for them. I remember hearing when the Towers started collapsing. Frightening. At Ancestry.com I worked in the call center, on the order status team. That day was pretty much dead. We barely got any calls except for that one rogue caller once in a while. I remember gettting all annoyed when someone would dare call wondering about their order during a terrorist attack. Their care about a cd seemed so superficial during such a scary and uncertain time.

One thing that stuck out to me as they've been doing 9/11 specials and interviewing the children then and now was a story one of the girls told. She said she had woken up with a bad dream the morning of 9/11. In that dream something bad had happened to her dad. She told him this and she pleaded with him not to go to work that day. He said, "Bad dreams don't come true." He died that day in one of the towers. I just thought, how sad, if only he had listened to his daughter. It would be interesting to hear the stories of those who happened to get sick that day or if someone had a bad feeling and decided not to go in that day or felt they shouldn't get on that plane.

It is definitely a day I'll never forget. Admittedly, it will go into the back of my mind and lay dormant for a while, but I've appreciated this time to remember what happened on 9/11 and what that day means to me.