Where Were You when the World Stopped Turning?

Weird. I started writing this one year ago but I never finished it.

No one will ever forget where they were on September 11, 2001. For myself, it was a normal Tuesday morning. I got up, got ready for work and when I came into the kitchen Mom was listening to the radio. She rarely did so it was a bit weird. Then the phone rang. It was my dad's friend asking if he was awake and had heard the news. He wasn't. Mom filled me in saying that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York and then she went to wake Dad. By that time the second plane had hit.

I remember now that the reason Mom had the radio on is because Seth was working for a temporary labour agency and had to be at work quite early in the morning. She heard that the first plane had hit when she was driving him to work. She came home and kept listening but didn't know if it was a big deal or not. That's why she didn't bother waking up my dad until his friend called.

I borrowed his walkman and listened to CKNW on the way to work. When I got there we tuned the radio to CKNW and my boss set a small tv up in his office. I think we watched the towers fall together.

To me it was very much like a movie. A real life, real time movie that I couldn't escape. Big explosions and conspiracy theories but all coming through the tv so it didn't seem real.

When I got home Dad had our tv set up in the living room (it was normally downstairs). We watched that stupid thing for probably a week straight. It was crazy.

On the first anniversary of the attacks I drove with my cousin's grandparents to Alberta. The best part of that day was the fact that I had zero radio or tv. That was how I remembered. By disconnecting myself and just celebrating that I was alive, living in a beautiful country and surrounded with people I love.

September 11th is so far one of the biggest events of my life. I remember where I was when Princess Diana died, I remember knowing that the Gulf War was going on. I remember where I was and what I was doing when President Bush declared war on Iraq but September 11th stands out above them all.

Being in Washington, DC last year and seeing the re-built section of the Pentagon brought it home a little more but it still feels like a dream...and not a good one.

September 11th changed our world. It makes me sad to think that there are a whole generation of kids growing up who don't know a world without terror. I pray for them and for peace for everyone.

~Heidi