9/11

My niece Kaila blogged about what she was doing when the 9/11 attacks occurred. I am going to copy her.

Daniel was in flight medicine training school for 6 weeks and the girls and I were staying in the basement of my parents home. We would be leaving for Guam in a month. I remember waking up and hearing the radio on upstairs and being annoyed that it was so loud. When I got up and found out what had happened I absolutely broke down. This changed my life in a selfish way because I knew that this meant war and I knew that Daniel would be a part of it. That horrified me. Whenever someone called (like my mother-in-law) I could barely talk between sobbing. When my sister-in-law Traci walked in I completely broke down. I remember Lindsey asking if she could have a turn watching a show because we had watched the airplane show all day long, which I actually think is sweet--her security had not internally changed. I would love for Daniel to tell his story, I know he was told that likely assignments would change and they even prepared for the possibility of flying to NY to assist with medical needs.

I was broken hearted for the families that were torn apart. I watched as people went to ground zero with pictures of loved ones hoping that someone had seen them and that they were safe. I remember watching a particular man with a picture of his wife and him breaking down after showing it to the camera and pleading for any information about where she was.

I was so touched by the fire fighters who (some of them I heard) took the last communion on their way into the building. I was inspired by the "Let's roll" (is that what it was?) of the passengers in the Pennsylvania flight. And the desire that everyone felt to help. The patriotism and unity that was shown was remarkable. It is still something that can move me to tears.