September 11th

September 11th changed most Americans forever. It is one of those huge events that you always remember even if you didn't personally know anyone killed or hurt. Most people remember where they were when they heard the news. I was working at an elementary school. I had just gone across to the class my Mom worked in to bring her something. One of the other teachers came in with a shocked look on her face and said her daughter had just called and told her the world trade center had been hit. The news just kept getting worse. Everyone thought we were at war and security concerns were foremost on our minds. Many of the kids went home early from school.

I wanted to do something but felt helpless. My family donated money. I went to donate blood as well but I had been feeling sick for a few days so they advised against it. I watched the news and felt so horrible just like I had after the Oklahoma City bombing.

I soon found out why I had been feeling sick. I was pregnant with our 2nd child. We had been trying to have another baby for many years and had actually given up. In the middle of all that sadness we got our miracle baby.

Here is a sad coincidence. I was pregnant with our 1st when the towers were attacked the first time. I had been asleep and I woke up because I thought I heard an explosion. Weird dream because there is no way I could have heard anyhting. We turned on the news though to check and make sure nothing had happened near our house and that is when we heard about the first attack. I was pregnant with my youngest when a football game we were attending was the target of a bomb. You can read about that in the next post.

When the Oklahoma City bombing happened I was just pulling into the parking lot at work (a child care center). We went on lock down for security because we were in such close proximity to the bomb site. We heard about the child care center in the Murrah Building and we were all just crushed. I stood there looking around at all of the children in our center and I just couldn't understand. How could anyone ever hurt a child?

We saw horrible things that day. Tear full parents coming early to get their children and just hugging them so tight - thank full that they were alive. Many of the parents worked very near the bomb site and they just looked shell shocked.

The worst we saw was a Dad who worked in the water resource building right next to the Murrah site. His wife had to go pick him up because he couldn't find his car. They came straight to the center to get their child because they were so worried. We assured them she was fine and told them they may want to go home and clean up before they got her. They were in shock and didn't even realize he was a mess -clothes all torn and splattered with blood. One of the centers near us had a child who was never picked up. Both parents had been killed.

So today was a very somber post but I feel it is important to remember and hope that we will not have more man made tradgedies.