9/11

Today as Trevor, Jenna and I sat in Mimi's Kabob eating lunch it hit me (as I watched CNN on the flat screen on the wall) that today is September 11th. As I watched footage from that horrible day I was taken back for just a moment as I felt some of the same panic and fear creep over me that I felt that day.

It's amazing how those images will always take us back and make us remember exactly what we were doing and how we found out about the horrific attacks. It's one of the few days of my life that I remember exactly what I was wearing (a navy blue dress with a blue and yellow scarf around my neck), what I had for lunch (a sub at SuperFresh) and what I didn't have for dinner (we had made plans earlier to go out on a date to Red Lobster, but obviously canceled them).

Like everyone else who lived in the DC area I frantically tried calling my husband until I could reach him to make sure that he was ok. The recording "your call can not be completed as dialed" will always remind me of that day. The phone lines were so jammed it took almost an hour for my call to go through. Once I found out he was ok I continued to fret until he made it home safely - he was a Metro (subway) rider at the time and everyone was worried about whether or not public transportation would be targeted.

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years already. So much has happened. My children will never know what life was like before 9/11. They will probably grow tired of hearing the "where were you that day?"stories. I pray that they will never have to experience a day like that - a day that changed the course of history for the worse.

Once I realized what today is I asked Trevor if he thought it was a little ironic that we were eating lunch in an Afghan restaurant. You know Trevor... he just shrugged his shoulders and said I guess so. It had a much more significant impact on me. The whole realization stopped me in my tracks. I've been so busy the last few weeks I've completely tuned out the world around me. I've heard names like Sarah Palin and Joe Biden and I have no clue what's going on in the political realm. I haven't watched any news and very little TV at all in the last month. In a way it feels good, but it also reminds me of what my life was like right before 9/11/2001. I was swamped at work. I barely had time to breath. I remember going into work that day almost suffocating under the pressure of the day's workload. I thought I was never going to get caught up. Then the events of the day unfolded and business ceased. Literally. People stopped buying promotional products (unless it was an American flag) for the next few months.

Anyway... I was feeling a bit of deja vu and nostalgia today. So, where were you on that Tuesday morning 7 years ago?