Now, even 14 years out, most of us can remember where we were that morning. I’d just seen my three boys off to school in various carpools and had returned upstairs to get ready. It was my day to volunteer at our local middle school where our oldest was in eighth grade. The news played on the TV in the background but I wasn’t paying much attention.
Then my phone rang, and I was met with the words that echoed across our nation. “Are you watching? Have you seen what happened to the World Trade Center?”
After a short conversation, I ignored my curling iron and hurried to the middle school. I knew there would be chaos, and they’d need my help, but that wasn’t the only reason. I wanted to be close to my son, in case he needed me.
Shortly after I arrived and got checked in, the school was ordered into a shutdown. I spent the rest of the days helping frantic parents sign out students. In between duties, I and the other staff huddled around the TV that had been brought up from the library. We cried, we prayed, and we speculated where our country would go from there.
We knew the day would have a profound impact nationally. I couldn’t have known the personal impact it would have on our family personally.
Even though our son was only in eighth grade, that day was burned into his memory. It was one of the deciding factors that prompted him to enlist in the Marine Corps straight out of high school.
As we look back on that horrible day, let’s not just honor the sacrifices made on that day, but also honor the sacrifices made because of that day.
