Remembering 9/11

For the last 7 years I haven't given much thought to the 9/11 attacks except to remember to put a flag out and then have a moment of silence and remember that horrific day while driving to work and listening to the radio.

The History channel replays every documentary made to relive that day and remember what happened and I have never really had any desire to watch any of them. I remember how horrible it was and who needs to hear a play by play...its just depressing. In flipping through the channels Trent stopped on one and of course I got hooked into watching it and then ended up staying up late so I could watch the begining that I had missed later that night.

The documentary I watched was called "102 Minutes That Changed America" it was eyewitness recordings of the events of that morning. Needless to say it was graphic...I could never imagine being put in a situation where jumping out of a 100 story or more building window would be better than enduring what was going on inside the building. Watching the recordings people had made of people one after another jumping out of windows was horrifying. Hearing the 911 calls of people from the building asking what to do and being told by the operators to just remain calm and stay where they were at as help was on the way. Only minutes later the tower collapsed killing everyone left in the building.

I will always remember that morning I was in Rexburg Idaho attending college and woke up and watched it on tv. I will forever have the memory of watching the tv and watching as the 2nd plane crashed into the 2nd tower and just sitting there in shock as to what was going on in New York. That image of that huge plane coming out of nowhere on the screen and crashing into the building will forever be burned images in my mind.

Likewise I will always remember 12 years ago coming back to our hotel room with my family after a Giants baseball game and turning on the tv to hear the news report about Princess Diana being killed in a car accident and I remember thinking "Is this for real...or is this a Saturday Night Live skit"

I spent the remaining minutes of 9/11/09 crying thinking of the selfless people that rushed into a potentially life ending situation only thinking of saving those left in the building. Thinking of the husbands, wives, moms, dads, grandparents, friends that were lost that day is so overwhelming even 8 years later.

A couple years ago I had the opportunity to visit Ground Zero with my family and the feeling there is amazing. Being in a noisy constantly busy NYC and then visiting the site and the stillness and quite that can be found there is humbling. The spirit is so stong there and amid all the sadness that surrounds the area you can only be extremely grateful for the country we live in and the amazing way everyone comes together in the middle of a tragedy.

Enough blabbing...just been thinking about it ever since Friday. After a few days the memories will fade again and won't be resurfaced until next year. Until then...thanks to all the amazing people who defend our country (Big shout out to Tyson, Ben and Shawn..woot woot)