We Must Always Remember

9/11. A day that has been burned in our hearts and minds forever. One of those few days that you immediately recall where you were when you heard the news. Some of the others include the space shuttle disaster in 1996 and the OK city bombing. And though I cried buckets of tears over all of them, it's the 9/11 tragedy that has affected me and my family the most. I still cannot think about it without crying. I'll never forget when I first heard the news. I was waiting at Walmart for an oil change to be done on my car. Two men started talking about it: "Have you heard? Airliners have crashed into the World Trade Center! They think it was terrorists!" I thought they were insane, or that it was some sort of bad joke. My car was ready shortly after, and while driving home I listened to the news reports. It was surreal. I couldn't believe it was happening until I got home and saw it on tv. Horrifying images. As I sat watching, the phone began to ring. You see, several of our family members work for the two airlines involved, USAir and United. A couple of them were in the air as it happened and a couple were on the ground working the ramp in Boston. It took several hours and many phone calls before we would find out if the pilots were on those planes. Thankfully they were not. They were, however, in the air and were forced to land at the closest airport to where they were flying above at the moment the skies were shutdown and they were stranded for several days. Not a big problem compared to what could have been,just stressful at the time.
After many days of watching the coverage on tv, gallons of tears later, hubby and I determined that our lives would never be the same and that we needed to take action. We had made our living via the airlines, built our family and our home on the income that was no longer there. I needed to return to the workforce, however my former jobplace was a hundred miles away. There was no one in my industry nearby. My children were young and I was adament that no one else would raise them. I couldn't be apart from them for 8 or 10 hours a day. I decided the only thing I could do was get a job at their school. That way I would have the same schedule as them, no babysitters or daycare would be needed. That decision turned out to be the biggest silver lining of the entire tragedy. I took the job thinking it was temporary, surely the airlines would recover and I could stay home again, if not, I would find something better. Much to my surprise, I loved it! It was the best, most fun job (if least paid) that I ever had! And now, eight years later, I'm finishing up my teaching degree so that I will one day have my own classroom. I guess I won't be staying home or finding something better anytime soon! As for hubby, life in the airline industry post-9/11 was extremely stressful. It took three years of searching, but he finally found a job close to home that is perfect for him, one that he enjoys, one that has benefited the entire family. There is always a silver lining--sometimes you just have to be patient for it.
My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers go out to the thousands of families who continue to be affected by this event, to those who have suffered tragic personal loss, horrible personal injury, as well as extremely difficult financial losses. Lives will never be the same. We must always remember.