What Just Happened.....?

What Just Happened

                So Second Grade was interesting to say the least. I had for the first time in my Elementary School career, my first teacher that had not only taught my older sister but also both of my cousins that lived around here. Yeah try living up to her expectations of me. Anyway one memory really sticks out when I think back to those days and it was also the day that I was scared that I had lost one of my parents.

You see…. Both of my parents worked for the airlines. My mom worked for American Airlines and my dad worked for United Airlines.  The day started out as any other. It was a sunny day and the complete opposite of murky.  I was cavorting around the house in my new dress. My dad was flying up to Washington D.C. cause that is where he is based out of and my mom was getting ready to be a substitute at Murdock.  Anyway I kissed my dad goodbye and my mom and I headed to Murdock after dropping my sister off at Walton. Yes my sister went to Walton…. really long story for another post.  My mom was subbing in I believe in the library and I just hung out in the room till I had to go out to my classroom that happened to be in a trailer. The day was typical we started with the pledge and we did our morning math, than it hit. One of the teachers came rushing into the trailer and turned on our TV. Just as the screen turned on, we saw the plane hit the first tower. It was unreal and we thought it was a joke like in the old King Kong movie when the planes on strings go crashing into the buildings. But it wasn’t. Minutes later the second plane hit the second tower and I think everybody was in shock.  We all just stared at the TV, not wanting to develop a credence about what just happened. After they had announced what airlines the planes had been from, I broke down with no will to dissemble my feelings.  Cause I had no idea if my dad was alive or dead. That was one of the most horrifying times in my life, and since my teacher knew my mom was in the building she just let me go.  My mom was in the library with her phone in hand and looking at the news with the footage of all four plane crashes.  Interesting story is that I was the reason my mom didn’t go to work the flight that day.

My mom was supposed to be flying from New York to Boston than to Washington D.C. but I threw a temper tantrum a couple days before and so she called in sick. Later she had found out that the gate her plane had departed from was right next to the gate where the terrorist hijacked plane had departed from and the crew she was supposed to work with saw the Pentagon get blown up. I wouldn’t say that I possibly saved my mom because I didn’t but if I had lost her…. I would be so lost. We just sat in the library, waiting to see if my dad was alive, you couldn’t fathom what that was like for me and there is no way that I could articulate the feeling into words. Anyway about half an hour later my dad finally called. He told us that he had his phone off and the airports were on lockdown.  I had never seen my mother cry till that day and today it’s very unwonted to see such sadness from her.

This memory is still the only one that when I think about everything, I still become distraught and have to cry. But my parents were lucky. A couple of years ago my sister told me about the girl that her dad was working on one of the top floors of the North Tower that day. Unfortunately the girl lost her dad, I’m not trying to decry her lose but it makes me feel lucky. . That day was the one day that will haunt me for the rest of my life, and sometimes I wish I could forget it. But that is impossible cause it always seems to exhume itself, so it is a feckless thought to forget it.

I'm Already There by Lonestar is the only song that I would pick to represent that time. Cause after 9/11, my sister and I were always afraid to let our parents go on trips. My mom took early retirement before the end of second grade and my dad still works for United. But I know that if anything happened to him, he would still be with me. And my picture choice, yes it is not actually me but this is what I saw on the tv that day that not only changed my life but the life of so many others.