Time Passes So Quickly

When I was growing up I often heard the question “Where were you when JFK was assassinated?” Or “Where were you when man landed on the moon?”. All iconic and world changing events. For me and the most of my generation, and the next, the question that will be asked is, “Where were you on September 11?” The day my generation lost a bit of our innocence.

For me I was in bed. It was the night of September 11 as I was in Perth Western Australia. I was reading and my husband comes in and tells me, “America is under attack. Two planes have hit the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.” I felt sick to my stomach. Fear fought with disbelief. Surely he was joking. I get out of bed and race down to the TV room. I see the smoke pouring from one building. I tell him that, and he’s like, “No there are two buildings.” Between the time he’d told me about the attack, to me getting to the TV, the first tower had fallen. I watched as the second tower fell. After that I had to go to bed. It was like I was living a nightmare. But my thought as I went to bed was “I’m glad I don’t have children.” A horrible thought but I didn’t know what was going to happen next. The next day I woke with a feeling that something bad had happened, and then I remembered. I don’t think I got any work done. I remember watching the footage over and over – I still couldn’t believe it had actually happened. Two days after the attack it was my birthday. Three weeks later I was taking a pregnancy test – I was pregnant. I took that as a sign from above to say – everything will be fine.

But so many innocent lives lost and the lives of so many heroes in the form of the men that knew that when they raced into those buildings – they weren’t going to come out. God Bless those brave souls.

Fast track 10 years and I’m a mother of two and living in the USA with my husband and kids. Two months ago I visited the magnificent city of New York. A city that showed the world, you can try but you’ll never keep us down. A new building is being constructed on the site, a memorial as well. Unfortunately I couldn’t see much because of the construction but the sheer size of the site astounded me.

Earlier that afternoon we’d visited the Statue of Liberty – my most favourite thing about New York. As I looked at the iconic figure and the way she gazed proudly over New York I knew in my heart that on that day 10 years ago, her heart was breaking and tears were rolling down her cheeks. But she is what New York and the rest of the USA stands for and now she looks proudly over the city that did not crumble.

NF