Hard to believe it’s been 8 years already.  I vividly remember where I was on 9/11/01.  I was working for an engineering firm and was on my way to work when the DJs on the radio talked about what they were seeing on tv.  Got to work and tried in vain to find out what was going on online.  The conference room TV was on and most employees were gathered around it to watch.  Given that some of our engineers were structural guys, they debated how long until the towers would fall (given their area of expertise, it was not an argument about IF but rather WHEN).  And then the unthinkable happened, the towers fell.

I didn’t have any friends or family living in New York at that time but that didn’t diminish the impact the events of the day had on me then, or still have on me today.  Andrew and I drove out east for a family vacation two years ago and as we were driving through Pennsylvania we saw a sign directing us to the crash site and memorial so we decided to stop.  I can’t describe how emotional it was just being there, seeing the crash site off in the distance a ways, reading the signs affixed to the fence at the memorial area, looking at pictures from when it happened.  I saw big, burly guys getting off their Harleys, completely overcome by emotion.  I don’t think I stopped crying the entire time we were there.

So now I’m sitting here tonight, reading all the tributes on Facebook and watching a special airing on the History Channel.  How is it that someone who had no connection to anyone  in New York, Pennsylvania or Washington can still be so affected eight years later?  It’s still really difficult to watch the footage from that day so I can’t imagine how those people feel that lost loved ones and friends.  My children were obviously not alive in 2001 so I wonder what their feelings will be about it when they get older and discuss it in history class at school.  Will they ever understand just what a terrible tragedy it was and how scary the world became?  I had purchased my first home a year before that and as I sat there that night, unable to sleep and glued to the TV, all alone in my house, I was afraid to even look out my windows. 

I actually felt sick to my stomach when watching the program on the History Channel tonight, and for the first time in 8 years, I had to turn it off.  Maybe it’s because I have several friends now who live in New York. Or perhaps it’s because I’ve been to New York now numerous times.  At any rate, it’s not about me.  Today is the day to remember all those innocent people who lost their lives that day, and all those families and friends who have to continue living without them.  God bless them.