9-11-2011 - 10 Years Later

September 11th, 2001 fell on a Tuesday. I was 17 & in my Senior year of High School at Centennial in Circle Pines. I woke up & got ready for school. I wore my favorite pair of jeans, red tank top & my favorite red & gray zip up sweater, which I still have by the way. I drove to school in my blue VW Jetta & went to my first class.

It was Business Math, a class I really enjoyed. Our teacher was super fun & I had several friends in class. I was early, like always. I sat down in my seat with the few other early birds & our teacher turn on CNN which was something we always did. The click of those buttons changed our lives. We had no idea what was going on. All we saw was panic. It didn't take long to realize that a plane crashed into one of the towers in NYC. It was so early that they didn't know if it was an accident or even any details. We sat there in shock. Little was said while we watched. A huge gasp was heard when the second plane hit.

While we were thousands of miles away from what was happening we were all scared. We had no idea if something like this was going to happen here. We had no idea who was doing it. It was so new & so scary. I had very little connection personally it. A friend of my dads had many family members in NYC & the place I worked at the time had a store in one of the towers. Besides that, I just knew about the Twin Towers. I remember my teacher saying "Remember this moment. Your children will be asking you where you were when this happened." Little did we know at the moment just how true that was.

The details we saw were graphic. As the cameras panned up on the buildings we saw people sticking their bodies out the windows above where the plane crashed into the building. They were unsure what was going on but knew that there was no way out for them. And then it happened, people started to jump out the window. My heart was in my stomach & I couldn't believe I was watching this living nightmare.

We sat in horror in our classrooms as we watched both towers collapse. I felt sick. It was so scary. It was a very unreal feeling as I am sure everyone can relate to. Could this really be happening? The rest of the day was quite a blur. I remember going to my classes but the halls were quiet compared to regular school days. Classrooms weren't filled with teachers teaching but filled with scared kids glued to the TV. I went home that night & watched the news all night with my family. Thankful they were alive & sadden that so many people lost their family members & friends.

Americans woke up that morning like any other days but went to sleep forever changed.

We will never forget. 9-11-2001