Where Were You?

Where were you when Kennedy was shot?  


I remember hearing people ask one another that question a lot when I was growing up and wondering how it was that every single person who was alive then and over a certain age could recall vivid details of exactly where they were and what they were doing on that sad, tragic day in American History.  


Because that horrific event took place nearly eight years before I  took my first breath in the world and I really couldn't recall any memory that vividly and especially not one that I shared with the better part of the world's population. Now I know it was because I had not ever experienced anything as equally tragic and shocking at that point in my life. 


I wish I could still say that...


September 11, 2001 changed that for me as it did for so many of us. I didn't personally know any of the innocent persons who lost their lives that day and at that time I could not even imagine what their families and friends must be going through because I had not yet lost a loved one so close to me and so suddenly and tragically.  


It was a rainy Tuesday morning here and I had just dropped little two year old Devin off at his morning preschool and was pulling into the parking lot of the florist when I heard my favorite morning radio show hosts, Bob and Sheri, announce breaking news of a plane hitting one of the twin towers in New York. There was still much confusion at this point but they were beginning to speculate that it was done on purpose and by terrorists?! 


How could this be? Surely they were mistaken.  I had just been there in those buildings three years earlier while on a business trip to New Jersey. We drove over to the city one evening and had a drink at On Top Of The World which was on the top floor of one of the towers.  


Dana, Shirley and I watched the coverage on the tiny black and white t.v. that I believe Shirley brought with her to the shop.  We watched as black smoke billowed out of the north tower and then as  the south tower was hit and on and on as the Pentagon was hit, a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania and those massive buildings that were surely still occupying hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans collapsed into a massive cloud of darkness.


I recall, for the first time in my lifetime as an American citizen, feeling completely vulnerable, violated, infuriated, afraid, uncertain, unsettled and unsafe. It was a strange and unfamiliar feeling.  And I didn't like it.  


The world seemed to barely move along in slow motion for the rest of the day and there was this sort of invisible, yet overbearing and angry haze of uncertain doom and darkness thickening the air, making it difficult for all of us to breathe and carry on with our daily activities.  So we just sat in the eerie, quiet stillness of no ringing phones and no walk-in customers staring at that tiny t.v. and trying desperately to make sense of what had just happened to our nation.  


I struggled that afternoon at closing time as to whether or not to continue on to my class at the gym as normal and in the end I went but my heart was just not in it and on the way home as I continued to listen to the coverage on the radio, I broke down and cried so hard I could barely see to drive.  


And then I prayed...


Prayed for the victims and their families, prayed for all those still missing, prayed for our leaders and our nation, prayed for peace, understanding and strength...  I just prayed and cried and prayed and cried all the way home.  


That evening I continued to watch the horrific coverage with Darin and little Devin who kept questioning why dose big airpwanes hit da tall buildings.  


In the following days and weeks we made countless red, white and blue ribbons and bows for customers wanting to show their support and patriotism by wearing them, tying them to their cars, mailboxes and front doors.  You couldn't look anywhere without seeing an American flag flying proudly high nor could you turn on the radio without hearing songs like The Star Stangled Banner,  America, My Country 'Tis of Thee, or God Bless America.  

"You can be sure that the American spirit will prevail over this tragedy."
--Colin Powell

There was no line drawn in the sand between Democrats and Republicans, no harsh words of criticism directed at our president, and no complaining about our government and the taxes we all hate to pay.  For awhile, we were all just grateful to be alive and proud to be Americans. 


Of course that all eventually faded away as our nation began to heal and struggle to rebuild and create a new sense of normal as we adjusted to a heightened, strengthened level of national security.  We were beginning to feel safe in our world again so we relaxed and began to take things...our freedom and our rights... for granted once more. 


But ask anyone alive today, over the age of fifteen or sixteen (Devin is now twelve and has no memory of the day), where they were on that Tuesday, ten years ago today, and a detailed account they will no doubt be able to give and they too will recall how wonderful it felt to be an American surrounded by other Americans who all loved their country so deeply in those following days and weeks.


We must never forget...


But how could we possibly?  


Where were you when the world stopped turning?