9/11

As I watched all of the 9/11 programming and tributes yesterday I had so many thoughts. It's amazing ten years have gone by but I still feel the same sorrow I did on the actual day; and in fact, I think I feel it more now that I am older.  I began to realize this event has shaped my entire adult life. I was an 18-year old freshman at the University of Utah when the terrorist attacks occurred.  Since then we have been at war and have seen incredible amounts of violence and death.  I have grown-up in the '9/11' era and I don't even remember how things were before the attacks.

We flew home from California yesterday and needless to say it was an unsettling feeling getting on an airplane on the anniversary. I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of the passengers on the hijacked planes and I can't even imagine how terrified you would be.  I'm sure there were children and families aboard those planes and that breaks my heart.

I watched a few different programs over the last couple weeks but the one I found very interesting was '102 minutes' on the History Channel.  It was all home footage of people who were experiencing the attacks in New York.  People just grabbed their camera's and you could hear their reactions to everything. The day just kept getting worse and worse and there was so much sorrow.

In this program you saw the bravery of all the firefighters and police officers. They ran into those buildings without even hesitating.  Even after the first tower fell the firefighters were preparing to go into the second building.  This hit really close to home now that I have a loved one serving as a firefighter. I pray he will never be in that type of situation.

My heart goes out to everyone who was personally affected by that day. I know someday I will have to explain what happened to my kids and I wish that wasn't the case.  Sadly, re-living all the events yesterday made me feel vulnerable and a little frightened this could happen again. But it also made me feel so proud to be living in this country and made me incredibly grateful for my family and for the wonderful people who surround me in my life.