8:46 am EST - four years ago
 

Read this and remember.

A few moments of silence in remembrance.

A world altered.

I am not quite ready for this, but I will be tomorrow. It will also be the first anniversary of watching my father die.

Prayers to all of those who lost their loved ones on this date and I wish them strength and hope. My father watches over me and my family and smiles, as I knew he would.

I still remember it like it was yesterday.........................................

Same here, I can't believe it's been 4 years.

I started to write about my experience that morning, but I just can't do that again. I just don't want to write that story anymore. I just can't.

I still remember where I was, how I found out, and who told me. It's amazing how liitle, yet how much, has changed in 4 years. It's also way too philosophical to think about what the wolrd would be like today if it never had happened.

i can't believe it's been 4 years.

tom you are missed more than words can ever express.

I remember that day like it was yesterday too. I was teaching and had just dropped my kids off at the library. I went to have a cigarette and the Today show was on, it was interrupted and the custodians and I stood there in shock trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I went around whispering to the other teachers what was going on because I didn't want to scare the kids. The principal told us not to mention anything to the students until we knew for sure what was going on. Some of my kids had relatives who worked at the Pentagon. Parents came in freaking out and took their children home. We were also very scared because Battelle, a bio-chemical plant was just down the street. We thought were scared that since a plane was in PA, there may be one in OH getting ready too. I think everyone was just insane that day. I left talk radio on all day and rushed home to be with jj after work. We sat together on the couch and watched the news. I cried all night and jj was just in shock. What an awful day.

That had a real impact on me. I remember at work when the radio dj mentioned in a light tone that there were some strange reports of a plane stuck in the World Trade Centre.

We had internet access at that time - and I became an internet news junkie that day. The whole thing really upset me for years, and I have absolutely no connection with anybody who was immediately affected. It will always upset me. What a horrible impostion, what terrible selfishness, what complete disregard. We must grow beyond that. I fear it will take a hell of a lot of generations to do so though.

Today we're all about celebrating.
Celebrating those lives lost.
Celebrating those that survived.
Celebrating the heroic passengers and crew of Flight 93, who gave their lives so others might live.

And celebrating my niece's 2nd birthday.

It makes this day just a little easier for us.

Gbt.

the past few days I've been looking out my living room window looking at the Tower of Lights...

I'm glad that I lived here, but glad that I wasn't here on 9/11. Lots of the people here in the neighborhood watched it from their living rooms and bedrooms. Someone told me as they watched it they felt pure evil being imprinted on their retinas.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...6laNfPE_ph.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...1aZpyhb_ph.jpg
edit: I did not take these pictures in fact these are taken from the Brooklyn side of the river and I live to the far right past the Manhattan bridge.

Cynthetiq, those pictures gave me chills and brought a tear. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be there. Or to have been there at the time.

As with so many major news events in my life, this one was also marked by.... the TV stand being wheeled out to the common area at school. I was walking to class when I saw the TV there. A rare sight so I wondered why and approached the dudes sitting around it. "What happened?" I asked...

I still remember the day in grade 9 when I came home. Basically it was my 3rd or 4th day at school, and I was still a little nervous about High School because I was totally new and didn't know anyone. I came home and saw the news...

I never know what to say in threads like these. It seems the natural response is to say that I'll stop and think about the events, but it almost seems like a given that we'll be doing that.

Oddly enough, what I remember a lot about the events surrounding this day came a few weeks later when Saturday Night Live finally went back on the air and Rudy Giuliani was on the set. Lorne Michaels was standing with him and asked, "Is it okay to be funny now?" It was clear that he really seemed to be grappling with the notion that he was about to try and make a nation laugh at a time when many of us were just not ready to yet.

What a day it was.... so many thoughts.. I have 2 kids born since then, and one of these days I am gonna buy some of the dvds available and when the time is right, we will watch and learn abiout that day.

A few random memories: sitting in my living room in Anchorage Alaska watching the biggest story of my life unfold on NBC... when we cut away live to the local affiliate. I actually felt my throat go dry as I wondered what could make them cut away like this... they evacuated downtown Anchorage, later we would find out it was because a KLM flight had inadvertantly turned off their radio, then bumped a warning button, under the circumstances, the Armed Forces assumed something was up when the plane didn't respond to repeated radio calls. The plane was diverted under military ascort to the Canadian NorthWest, and every was evacuated under armed guard.

Just another moment of insanity on the craziest day in memory.

On a better note, I just re-connected with some old friends and found out that my friend Don saw his som Ross ( who worked near the WTC and saw the first tower fall) on CNN's coverage. When DOn giot a hold of Ross that night, it was indeed his son on tv. He was alright.

I personally will never forgive and never forget.