9/11

September 11th was a day that none of us will forget. I am sure that we will always remember where we were when we found out what was happening. It has been seven years and I don't think I have ever written down my experience of that day. I wanted to take the opportunity to write down my experiences and feelings that I still remember.

In April of 2001 I graduated from BYU. That summer I moved back home to Virginia to live with my family. I had not found a teaching job yet, so I had been hired as a substitute teacher. Each day I would go to a different school. I became very familiar with Loudoun County as I visited many schools. I don't remember what school I was at on Sept. 11th, but I was subbing for a special ed teacher in the Sterling area. I was assigned a specific student to work with throughout the day (he was being mainstreamed into a regular classroom). At some time during the morning the principal came over the loud speaker and announced, "There will be no more outdoor recess today. All students and teachers should remain inside the building for the rest of the day." My first thought was, "Hmm, I wonder if they are fumigating." A little while later, someone on the loudspeaker came on in the classroom and said, "so and so's parents are here to pick them up. Please send them to the office." That is a normal occurrence. It happened again a few minutes later, another child was called out to go home. A few minutes later, again. Then again. Now I am thinking, somethings going on. The teacher and I were looking at each other with puzzled looks. Pretty soon about half of the class had been called out. Someone came to the door and called the teacher out. She went out and left me in charge for a few minutes. When she came back in, she called me out. She said, "A plane has hit the World Trade Center." At that point I wasn't that worried. It wasn't until I had a break and walked down by the office that I began to realize a little more of what was happening. Parents were everywhere, some were crying. I walked up to a secretary in the office and asked what was going on. She told me, "Terrorists have hijacked planes and are running them into buildings." The way she said it made me picture hundreds of planes flying through the sky crashing into buildings. Luckily I had enough common sense not to run for cover yet, but I went into the teachers lounge to watch the TV. At that point, I don't think they knew where the 4th plane was yet. I realized that the Pentagon had been hit. My dad doesn't normally work there, but he visited there occasionally. I called my mom. She said that she hadn't heard from my dad, but that she felt very peaceful that everything was OK. That calmed me down, but I just wanted to go home. I did stay the rest of the day, but I don't remember any of it. I just wanted to get home and be with my family.

I remember driving home and the song "God Bless the USA" came on. I had never felt more proud of being an American or felt as blessed to be an American. When I got home my dad was already there! We cried a lot that day and for the days after. I remember calling Jorge Luis that night. We weren't even dating at that time, but we were friends. I knew his family was in New York and just wanted to make sure that everyone was alright. I remember calling the Bishop of the Shenandoah singles ward and some of the sisters in the ward. We wanted to make sure that everyone and their families were OK. It was a great blessing that everyone was physically OK, but emotionally everyone was pretty shook up. I remember listening to President Bush that night and President Hinckley the next day. It was scary, yet I felt peaceful as well.

I had plane reservations to fly to California on Sept. 20th to be with a family from my mission that was being sealed in the temple. I don't do well flying in the first place, so you can only imagine the inner turmoil I went through to get on that plane. It was only after a very powerful father's blessing, a scripture that Jorge Luis sent me, and a VERY patient mother that paced the floors of the airport with me that I finally got on the plane. I knew that I would regret it the rest of my life if I wasn't there to see the Vazquez family sealed. I am so glad that I went. On the plane ride I flew with people that were just barely flying home after all of the Sept. 11th craziness (planes grounded, airports closed, etc). Everyone had a different story. EVERYONE had been affected in one way or another. It didn't matter where you lived in the U.S.

I loved seeing all of the miracles and everyone coming together in the days that followed. If only it could always be that way. Everyone was nicer to others, everyone appreciated their families and their blessings in way that they never had before. Now we live close to the World Trade Center site. All of the fire engines in our area have this written on them, "September 11th, All gave some. Some gave all. Never forget." I will never forget.