Reflecting

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since the attacks on America.  I have been thinking for days what I want to write and I have never sat down and written out the story of what happened to me that day although I have verbally told the story many times.

10 years ago I was at work teaching 2nd grade.  It was a half day of school for the students which meant that the teachers would have meetings once the students left at 11:30 until the end of the day.  I was also 9 months pregnant with a due date of September 24, 2001.  Being my first pregnancy I was so anxious and so ready to meet the baby that was inside of me.  The guidance counselor came to my classroom that morning to teach her guidance lesson and I left the room to go to the main office because I was feeling what I thought were contractions.  I went to the main office and used the phone in the conference room to call my OB.  The nurse I talked to said that if I thought I was in labor I needed to go to the hospital.  I had no clue whether I was or wasn't in labor and went to talk to the office staff.  I was crying and not sure what to do about the way I was feeling, then the telephone rang.  A woman named Angela answered the phone everyone was already around her desk talking to me helping me figure out what to do.  While she answered the phone we were all standing there quietly.  All of sudden she screamed and dropped the phone then started crying.  I can still vividly see the image in my mind.  Someone else picked up the phone and talked to the caller.  Come to find out Angela's brother worked at the World Trade Center and someone was calling to tell her about the attacks, I can't remember if it was a family member of hers or not.

(Thankfully we later found out that her brother had not gone to work that morning, but it did take a while to get that answer.)

The next few minutes were very blurry for me but I remember walking back to my classroom and all I could think about was what had just happened.  I entered my classroom and privately talked to the guidance counselor and told her what I just found out.  She left and I went back to my students.

Finally the students were dismissed at 11:30 and I had also heard something had happened to the Pentagon as well which is a little too close to my family.  I remember calling my mom and she told me that they were alright, but I still just felt weird.  Eric's cousin worked at the Pentagon and we were worried about her as well, thankfully she was safe.

We were dismissed from school and all of our meetings were cancelled.  I remember going home and watching TV for the rest of the afternoon just crying over the devastation.  Actually I remember watching TV for many days after and crying just the same every time. 

America changed so much after that day and I will NEVER forget!  As America reflects on the events 10 years ago it is still so unbelievable to me that it did happen.

I never remember having any more contractions and I guess they were just Braxton Hicks because my little man wasn't born until September 26, 2001.

September 11th is also one of my friends birthdays so I remember calling her and wishing her a happy birthday that day.