I remember that Tuesday morning vividly. I was a junior in college who had pulled nearly an all nighter in preparation for a big exam at 8am. This exam would be one third of my overall grade for the course and to a student who pride herself on all A’s, it was the only thing on my radar that morning. I did not know when I entered that classroom with over two hundred of my peers what would be happening when our exams were turned in.
The exam was easier than I thought and celebrated that it was over by going to the university bookstore after it was over since I forgot in all of test anxiety to eat breakfast. Deciding over which baked goods were going to be mealtime, the television in the bookstore started showing a fire in the World Trade Center. I grabbed my breakfast and went three buildings up to my dorm room. I had barely got into the room and turned the television on to see the second plane. Just like that, everything changed.
For the next hour or so, I stood while talking to my mom on the phone while things happened. There was a plane flying in Pennsylvania after they had grounded most of the flights, a neighbor across the hallway in the dorm could not get ahold of her mom who was schedule to fly out of New York and people could be heard outside of the dorm room speaking about their disbelief. Senses, emotions and thoughts were on extreme overload at that moment.
Then one of towers fell and reality really began to hit. The loss of life and then my mom reminded me where we were at nearly one month to the day. We were in the World Trade Center being tourists in NYC. Thank goodness for us it was a month later. After the second building fell, the great unknowns began to set in. I went to my 1pm class unsure what to do. That professor announced that she didn’t care what was happening in the world, but we were going to sit there and learn for the next hour. The comment was maybe at best, the only thing I took away from the class on that day.
After I was done with geology, I went to my retail job as a second person had to count the registers so a deposit was made. The mall had opened at 9am and the only four CDs had been sold were “God Hates Us All” which had been released that day. The roads were empty and the mall which was still in its hay day at that point in time closed at 4pm. I would eventually go back to my dorm to sit there the rest of the night knowing that the world changed that day.
As for the exam, I received an A. The following years would be a true test being a military wife as my college sweetheart served our country. As the years continue to come, we do not forget. We won’t.
