9-11 the 10 year anniversary

I know it's late but better late than never. I was waiting to scan some pics from my view of 9-11and it hasn't happened yet, oh well.  I will try to post them soon when I can make it happen.

We were actually traveling home from North Carolina on 9-11-11, the 10 year anniversary.  We saw many a flags along the way, waving high with pride, boasting we will never forget.  I won't forget either.  It was my first year teaching, just 6 weeks into the school year when I got a phone call from my mom right before my students came in, saying that a plane had hit one of the towers.  I immediately put a paper clip into the back of my t.v. in my portable (yea ghetto I know but the only "antenna" I had at the time) so that I could pick up a local channel.  I watched the second plane hit (with students watching at this point) and we watched in terror as flames came from the buildings, people jumped to their death, ash fell over the city and the magnitude of what had happened overwhelmed me.  As the scene grew worse and worse, we were informed to turn our t.v.'s off so as not to frighten our students.  I couldn't think about anything else that day and as soon as I got home, I was glued to the t.v. as everyone else was as well. 

Jay's cousin Didi was actually living in Jersey and working in New York and was supposed to be there the day the crash happened.  Luckily, she was waiting on her train when she realized she was thirsty, went back into her apartment to get something to drink and then when she got back down there to catch her train, realized she had missed it.  The Lord protected her that day, but unfortunately many of her friends lost their lives that day.  I also read on another blog a first hand chilling account here.

It was shocking for days/weeks/months when the numbers grew of lives lost, families hurting and lives forever changed, including mine.  It was just a few months later when I went with my church, along with my brother Matt, to New York to assist with the cleanup.  We cleaned apartment buildings surrounding  Ground Zero.  The apartments weren't "damaged" per se, but the windows were bashed out by the impact and everything in the apartments were covered in soot and ashes.  The residents had not been allowed back in their apartments since 9-11 and it was 2 months later.  The smell was horrific and the reality set in quickly that (sorry for the graphic scene but it is reality) the ashes weren't of just the building but of the many who lost their lives that day.  It was humbling and a sight I will never forget.