Straight to the Heart

My day has been like a whirlwind -- I looked forward to getting home, snuggling into my couch and reading all my favorite blogs -- My hubby is out for the night with friends at a concert and I always look forward to the alone time... As I read several blogs and their encounter of 9/11, my heart was touched, my body flooded with chills and my memory jarred in such a way that I simply had to write my own encounter that horrifying day 7 years ago, today --

I remember it was my second day of school -- I was a kindergarten teacher and because of my own personal tragedies (so I thought at the time), the last thing I wanted to be doing was getting up to go to work -- I specifically remember wishing no one would show up (ridiculous, I know) -- As they piled into the classroom at 7:45 a.m., my heart lightened as it always did in the presence of 5 year old's -- Our morning was going as usual... I started with the Pledge of Allegiance and one of my children raised their hand afterward and said "My mommy and me always pray for the flag on our way to school" -- I understood that to mean they prayed for our Country and those precious words flooded my mind later that day as I watched the reenactment of the first plane fly into the Twin Towers --

It was approximately 45 minutes later when the secretary of our school came running down the hallway yelling A plane just flew into the Twin Towers -- At the time it was almost as though it didn't phase me, my mind was full of my own personal wars and teaching kindergartner's to read -- Minutes later when I heard her again A second plane just hit the other Twin Tower! it hit me that something was really wrong -- I had my assistant take over morning routines and I went to find out what was going on -- Our country was under terrorist attack --

It didn't take long for our principal to release us from school and as parents arrived to pick up their children, you could see the terror in their faces -- Are you OK? What can we do to help? Do any children need a place to go until their parents can get them? -- It was as though we'd all become family in a matter of hours -- All each others sister, brother, mother, father and best friend -- It was us against them -- Later that day as my family sat in our living room, watching the TV with our eyes filled with confusion and our hearts filled with fear, I remember looking around at each person and thinking to myself We only live 2 hours south of NY... any one of us could have easily been there -- I thanked God not one person I knew was even close to the national tragedy happening a mere 150 miles north of us -- My own personal tragedies going suddenly seemed but a dim light in the midst of complete chaos --

Seven years later I sit in the comfort of my own home, safe from terror, married to the man of my dreams and with the knowledge that there are those who are still mourning the loss of family members, best friends, co-workers, children and local heroes, I count myself blessed -- My heart, my prayers and my sincerest thoughts go to those families who lost a loved one on the day our country took a hit straight to the heart --