Where Were You?

September 11th, 2001...Where were you?
Has it really been seven years since that devastating attack on American soil? That date is one that is forever embedded on the memory of every American. It becomes a moment included in ones like the Challenger disaster or the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the Oklahoma City bombing or the shooting of a president. One of those moments you just don't forget where you were or what you were doing.

As for me...I was working at a hospital in Tupelo, Mississippi as a registered nurse on the renal (kidney) unit. I had just finished making rounds to see my patients and one of my patient's family members came running out of the room and grabbed me by the arm and said, "You've got to come see this! Something just crashed into the World Trade Center tower!" I went running back into Ms. Hadley's room and watched in utter shock and disbelief and in less than 2 minutes watched as the second plane crashed into the second tower. There was so much confusion. No one really knew what was going on. People were GLUED to TV screens all over the hospital. It was hard to get any work done. I remember hearing rumors of planes flying into the White House and the Capitol. And then hearing that another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.

Looking back, the plan is much more clear to us as to what the terrorists had in mind. But living through that day moment by moment and not knowing where, when or what they were going to do next was so unnerving.

I remember thinking throughout that day that I just wanted to hear my loved ones voices and to know that they were ok. In times of crisis you feel at a loss as to what to do. Slowly over the next few weeks, our pride in our country surged and we laid aside the facts that there were Republicans and Democrats in America. We were just "AMERICANS" and found our senators praying together in unity on the steps of the Capitol.

We all started wearing our flag pins and brooches and trying to find a cause that we could sink ourselves into to try to make a difference in the lives of those whose loved ones had not been spared.

Slowly, the pieces started coming together and we declared war on terroism. It is a war we are still fighting seven years later. And whether we agree on how it was handled or not, we must be united in support of our troops who put themselves in harm's way everyday for us and the priceless freedoms we are privileged to everyday as Americans.

Thank God we have not had another attack of terroism on American soil. Thank God we have brave soldiers that will answer the call to fight and defend freedom. Thank God we are STILL the land of the free and the home of the brave. May God continue to bless America and may we never forget that it still is "In God that We Trust".

So...where were you...on 9/11?

God Bless America...