where were you? {when the world stopped turning}

It's hard to believe that this is the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

So much has changed.

People fly flags more regularly.

Airports are totally different. No more waiting for your friends and family at the gate. Or walking your friends and family to the gate. No more liquids in your carry-on. Lots of full body scanners.

I've read several amazing books telling about that harrowing day and the life that has followed... "Let's Roll" by Lisa Beamer and "Love, Greg and Lauren" by Greg Manning. I just finished (today) "Where You Left Me" by Jennifer Gardner Trulson, which I highly recommend to add to your reading list.

Back to the actual day...
On September 11th, 2001, I was driving to one of my clinical rotations, just about to finish OT school. I was listening to my favorite radio station, B-98, and they said a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. What??

I arrived, got out of the car, and turned the radio on inside, where I shared an office with another OT student. We sat at our desks, in shock, as we listened to what continued to happen in New York, Washington DC, and in Pennsylvania. We couldn't believe it.

Jerry and I had planned to fly to his sister's house on 9/16/01, not even a week after everything had happened. Our plane tickets were still good, so we went ahead with the trip. But, it was beyond creepy to be on a plane that was 75% empty. Weird. So many planes had been grounded... this was just the start of resuming air travel. I've flown a decent amount in my life, but this ranks up there as one of the most unsettling. Airports and airplanes were empty... I've never seen them like that before.

Fast forward to 9/11/04... I was pregnant with Grayson, and my parents as well as Jerry and I were boarding a cruise ship in Boston. We were taking our last trip before the baby... headed for a week-long trip to Maine and Canada. We hadn't been on the ship more than an hour or two when the ship's captain came over the loudspeaker. He spoke of the significance of 9/11, the fact that we would never forget, and that he wanted to honor those who had died on that terrible day. He asked that all the passengers on the ship stop for a few minutes of silence, and honor those who had lost their lives. He then stopped talking and played "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" by Alan Jackson throughout the Jewel of the Seas. The ship was quiet except for the song playing. I'll never forget it.

God Bless America...