My Upstate NY Memories of September 11th

I blog nearly the same thing each 9/11, recalling where I was when I learned we were under attack. I keep changing my blog and starting all over post wise, so this might be brand new for some to read. I’d love to hear where you were.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was a work-from-home mom living in Upstate NY with my husband and three year old. I was on the computer getting work done, taking advantage that our son was sleeping in. My sister e-mailed from from her work and asked if I had the Today show on. That particular day I did not, wanting peace and quiet so I could get work finished.

I saw the pictures but I could not piece what was happening. The thought of us as a country being attacked felt so surreal that even looking at it still didn’t convince me. Although in the same state it felt worlds apart. Yet the more we heard abut another flight out there, the more the country huddled together.

My sister-in-law wondered if her husband was at the house as she could not reach him. He was doing some remodeling work at the time. Although we lived in a small area, it’s a touristy area with a world headquarters to a glass corporation. I guess if terrorists wanted to take our city out, they could have and not hearing from him made her concerned.

I’ll never forget hearing the fear in her voice.

I had peace that passed all understanding. I can only say God provided it. I know so many lives were lost. The economic ripple from those attacks cost me my job 18 mos later and our community lost jobs by hundreds, if not more. It’s hard to say God provided during that time. Yet I know He did not create the evil. He allowed it and I had to trust Him to provide a greater good that I might not ever see.

Like everyone else, I was glued to the news. The media was based in NY and as they reported live, they knew they were reporting the deaths of friends. I specifically remember watching Katie Couric.

I never imagined the towers would fall. I couldn’t put together a scenario of thousands trapped and what their final moments must have been like. It’s probably better that way. I prayed throughout the day. I felt such pride mixed with the grief when I learned of the last flight and how the passengers overtook the terrorists. Years later our pastor shared that at the time he was in catering and heard a plane that sounded low. He looked out and saw it and said it was so low you could read the numbers on the plane.

It was the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Of all the images, news reports, interviews, speeches, etc…I remember clinging to President Bush’s words when he visited. I cried when our national anthem played during the changing of the guard.

I remain agahast at how fast things returned to “normal.”

Political bickering resumed within weeks. Friends who vowed to make life changes because of the attacks returned to former lifestyles before October. That shook me harder than the news itself. It’s something I still think about. If our nation didn’t change ways after something so horrific, what will it take? I shudder to think about it.

Fast forward ten years and we’re hearing about daily earthquakes. Massive corruption. A devastated economy.  Still en masse, we don’t change. It shouldn’t surprise me, these things are all spelled out in the Bible.

But one thing stands out then, in the days/weeks/months/years after and now.

Grief.

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