15 Septembers ago I was a freshman in college. I remember just 3 weeks before driving over the bridge and taking in my last look at the NYC skyline on my way up to CT. I didn’t have class until 9:30am that Tuesday and in true freshmen form I slept until 9:10 or so before hustling to class. My professor was already there since he also taught at 8am, but as other students filed in they brought word that a plane hit the WTC finally another student walked in saying a second plane hit WTC. My professor dismissed us and as I walked through the student center back to my room someone told me a plane hit the Pentagon. All I remember is being shocked and scared that we were under attack even before walking to the lobby of my dorm and seeing a grainy picture of the twin towers burning. New friends on my floor quickly became my family as we watched in horror and took quick audits and who has family working downtown or at the Pentagon. Phone lines were tied up, but I was able to reach my family who all thankfully worked on Long Island aside from my one cousin who was able to make contact with family within a few hours. That night my college held a beautiful candlelight vigil. Maybe that is why I loved my university so much and have made a career of working with freshman. That was a day that could have taken me off course, I could have easily left school and gone home. I did go home to visit the weekend following 9/11, I remember seeing ground zero still smoking as we again crossed the bridge. For a very long time I thought of 9/11 as obviously a world event, but especially as New York event. When I moved to DC in 2012 I learned about 9/11 from the eyes of my DC area friends. This year I made a point to go to the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA to learn more about those heroes and pay my respect.
15 years later I feel get sad and mad thinking about that day, but I also remember the love we all felt towards one another and the heroism of our first responders.
Never Forget.
