Bad Girl House

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 began as any other day. John and Jessica were in Ohio, so I was quietly getting ready for a day of teaching. I showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, and put on my make-up. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I normally got to school around seven am to make sure I was ready for all of my elementary classes. I wrote the date on my blackboard, along with the day’s activities. I would have a class full of students by eight o’clock, and they would be with me for about an hour. Soon after waking that class out of my room, my second class was approaching. Even from a distance, I could tell that their teacher was shaken up about something. As her students went into my room, she asked me to stay by the door with her for a second. She leaned towards me putting her hand around my elbow. She whispered that an airplane had just crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York City. I just stared at her as she shook her head. She said that she was going to the teacher’s lounge to see what else she could find out. I looked back into my room, realizing that I needed to teach a class of innocent children who had no idea of the huge event that was currently happening. In order to stand in front of them, I had to push what I had just heard out of my mind. I had to keep them engaged, as well as keep myself distracted. If I stopped too long to think about it, I was afraid that my emotions would be visible on my face.

Their teacher must have picked them up right before the second plane struck the south tower shortly after nine o’clock, because she didn’t have any updates yet. My full day didn’t allow for much down time, so my first chance to get any news was going to be during my drive to the middle school. Shortly before it was time for me to change schools, an announcement was made that the administration had decided to end the school day early. Parents were going to be able to come pick up their children. During my short drive home, I didn’t hear anything about the attack. We did have a television at home, but we still didn’t have cable hooked up. I had no way to find out what was going on unless I wanted to sit outside in my truck. This was not the time of smart phones, and John had taken our computer with him to Ohio. I didn’t hear that the Twin Towers had fallen until I had a short phone call with John that evening. I honestly didn’t see the footage of that day until seven years later when I was able to look it up on youtube. Finally seeing the smoke, the first responders, and the aftermath, was like it was happening for me for the first time.

My most vivid memory of the actual day happened in the evening when I was getting ready for bed. It had been dark outside for some time when suddenly I heard a noise that seemed to be surrounding me. It was the constant sound of an aircraft. It was getting louder, and apparently closer. With my ear covered, I ran to my kitchen window to see if I could possibly see anything. I leaned toward the window, and squinted into the darkness. There was no sign of anything. I couldn’t believe that the sound was continuing to get louder. The sound was shaking my house as well as my body, and seemed to be heading straight for me. I was full of this incredible sound. Still standing in front of the window, the sound reached its peak. It died away much more quickly that it had approached. I could only imagine that it was a jet, as well as how low it was in order to sound the way it had. It had to have been connected to the morning’s events.