Remembering

"As soon as there is life there is danger." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Okay today is September 12, 2008.   I just couldn't get to the computer to jot down my feelings yesterday.  But, remember I did.

I remember being in my office, working on maps and listening to NPR early in the morning.  When the story broke, it was still unclear what was happening, but I went to get my friend and supervisor, Angie, to tell her what I was hearing.   Then a co worker came through the door and said she had just seen the plane hit the first tower on TV.  Angie and I drove to Target to get an antenna for our ancient TV at work ( the one we rarely used, but kept for video presentations and such).   We listened to NPR on the drive as we got increasingly more upset.  While we were in the electronics division at Target, all the TV's were tuned to the same channel and as we watched the first tower collapsed.  It was deadly quiet in Target, we were all in shock.  Then the second tower fell.   No words.

We went back and hooked up the antenna and tried to follow the events unfolding.  It just was too unbelievable and so incredibly sad.

I was transported that day back to Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995.  I lived in the town of Norman Oklahoma.  I was working in the lab when I heard the news on NPR.  Someone drove a rental truck and parked in front of the Murrah Building.  Then the unthinkable happened. Explosion.

I will never forget where I was on these two days  and the feelings that flooded my being.

I hope and pray I don't have to experience such a thing again.  The senseless loss of life, and the terrible emptiness for the families involved.

I remember.