Where were you?

Twenty years ago, where were you?

That was the question of a poignant song by Alan Jackson.

Where were you?

​What do you remember?

​I remember being in my car that morning, listening to the radio as I drove between schools for my itinerant ESOL teaching job. I had several meetings that morning in different locations, and I remember the news being worse every time I left a meeting and got in my car and turned on the radio again.

I remember crying when I heard that a tower had collapsed.

I remember walking into a school and seeing it on the TV in the office. I remember we had a hard time accessing the internet for our meeting because everyone was on it trying to find out what had happened.

I remember being at one school that had a lot of military kids, and parents arriving to get their children. South Carolina was far from where the attacks had taken place, but they just wanted their kids safe with them.

I remember hearing that the Mall in Washington, DC, was on fire. (It wasn't; there were so many rumors flying that day.)

I remember going with a school resource officer to take two of my students home that day because their mom had been traveling and now would not be able to come home because all flights in the country had been cancelled. They were new students from Korea and we wanted to make sure the neighbors they had been staying with knew what was happening. 

I remember sitting and praying with a coworker whose dad worked in the Pentagon. (He ended up being okay.)

I remember hearing about the firefighters lost in the collapse of the towers, and about the courageous passengers on Flight 93.

I remember hearing that the President was heading to the White House, and then hearing that he was being taken to an undisclosed location, and then hearing him address the nation that night.

I remember going to the CIU campus as soon as I could get away from work. My then-boyfriend (now husband) was there, as were many friends. I wanted to be with others.

I remember seeing politicians from both political parties coming together that night, united as Americans. I remember wondering how long that would last.

I remember hearing that my brother was called to his Coast Guard ship and deciding to visit my sister-in-law.

I remember taking pictures on my way there of all the signs of support that shop keepers and gas stations had put up.

I remember shopping for red, white, and blue ribbon with my sister-in-law and not being able to find some of the colors because we weren't the only people with that idea.

I remember my mom going to donate blood for the first time.

I remember being glued to CNN and other news stations for days.

I remember the quiet of the skies for a week or more.

I remember flinching the first time I heard a plane after that.

I remember the first time I flew after 9/11, and holding my breath when we took off, and especially when we landed safely.

I remember the anniversaries five and ten years later, talking to students who remembered where they were, and to some who had no memories of it, and thinking that was so surreal.

I remember more recent anniversaries, and wondering what I could show my children that would help them grasp the enormity of what happened in a way their young hearts could bear, and finding the video "Boatlift" for the first time.

​And now, it has been twenty years. I still remember. I will never forget.

What do you remember?

​Where were you?