Remembering...

The date: September 11, 2001.  My location: my Pre-K classroom with a room full of energetic 4-year-olds.  Class was bustling as usual, and my assistant just returned to the classroom after taking the attendance envelope up to the office.  She had the most worried look I have ever seen.  She whispered into my ear, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center!" It took me a few seconds to fully understand what this meant.  I wasn't thinking terrorist attack, I was thinking what kind of freak accident was this?  But Cindy was so shaken.... it had to be more.  She went back out of the room and returned a few minutes later and informed me the other tower was hit, and now the fear really set in.

Our school was not far from Camp David nor far from Fort Detrick- two major targets for terror attacks.  We weren't too terribly far from Washington DC also, and many, including myself, had family members working there.  We. Were. Scared.  Are they safe?  How in the world are they going to get home?

Parents started filling the school- frantically coming in to take their children home from school early.  When I say frantically- I mean they were gathered in the hallways crying very visibly.  Other students passing down the halls would see the upset parents taking their children and worried about what was happening and why weren't their parents coming to get them too?

I kept my classroom door shut.  I needed to shield my innocent little 4-yr-olds from the chaos outside.... I didn't want them to be scared.... I didn't want them to know how cruel the world can be sometimes.  I kept it together and put on my happy face... sang through our songs and went through our day as if all was fine.

A television was placed in the teacher's lounge so we could watch what was unfolding- I sat down and watched as I ate my lunch after my students left for the day.  I drove home, turned on the television, and cried the rest of the day.  Mike came home from work early and cried along with me on the couch.  The footage would replay over and over and over for the rest of the week and I cried over and over and over for all the lives lost.  Our country would never be the same.

I downloaded all the patriotic music I could find.  I wore red white and blue ribbons in my hair and pins on my shirts.  I bought little American flags to fly on my car and flew our big flag on our front porch.  The patriotism that exploded after 9/11 was something I will never forget as well.  Every house on our street had a flag flying out front.  Almost every car driving by had either a flag on their window or a magnet on the back.  Flags hung at every overpass along the highway.  The love for our country was evident, and it warmed my heart to see everyone coming together to support the US of A.

We will never forget....