Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

I was at work, and ended up watching it on line.... Our CEO assembled everyone in the confernece rooms and told us that it's times like these when we should be home with our families and they let everyone go home.
 
I was a senior in HS and was in a program that allowed me to go to the comm. college for classes. We were in International Studies oddly enough and had just left the break room when one of the guys came running and said that a plane had his the WTC. My first though was "OK, small plane, just an accident." Our teacher took us all back in there and we were watching when the second plane hit. The room was full shortly after as we all gathered to watch the news. By the time we made it back to our main HS it was around 1:00 (Eastern Time) and no one knew! They hadn't told anyone!!! One girl in my class had an aunt that worked at the Pentagon so our teacher let her use her cell phone in the dark room (photography class) to call her mom and find out what was going on (cell phones were totally banned in school - for teachers or students. You weren't even allowed to have it on you even if it was turned off). Her office was one of the ones hit, but she had taken the day off for whatever reason. I'll never forget that.
 
I remember a pimple faced, rail skinny 18 year old boy, that had just graduated high school. He married his pregnant high school sweetheart, and was expecting his first child, a son in September. I talked him into going into the Army, because really, he wasn't college material. Around here, the only untrained jobs are construction or working in a trailer plant. Work all week, and stay drunk on the weekends, and I wanted better for him than that. On September 2, 2001, his son was born, and he was in Basic training at Ft Leonardwood, Mo. On September 11, 2001, when the second plane hit, I knew that we were at war, and that I had sent him to die. And he hadn't even met his son yet. He did get to meet him, and he and his young bride moved to Germany, but soon divorced, because he was deployed, and she wanted to go home. 10 years and 3 more tours later, his son is 10, and they barely know each other. He has remarried and has a beautiful daughter that is 4, and a wonderful wife, that is there for him. He is also being discharged from the Army, because of his back being gone from 4 tours worth of carrying his gear, and PTSD. So now Mama worries about the rest of his life, being disabled at 28 years old. How will his marriage last if she has to be the breadwinner? Will his depression make him interolable to be around? And he is still jaded, he says "Mama, don't worry, the VA will take care of me". It never ends.
 
My kids asked me this very question yesterday when we were watching the news reports and the many specials on 9-11. My kids were both small; my son was 3 and my daughter 2 on that day back in 2001. We were at Minot Air Force Base, my husband was working and the kids and I were home. We just finished breakfast when I heard about it. We didn’t have cable tv then so I got on the computer to watch. I called and talked to my parents who hadn’t turned on the TV yet, they didn’t know.
 

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