Eleven years ago, today.

Eleven years ago, this morning, I lay asleep in a hotel room in Houston, Texas. The room phone rang. I sat up and sleepily answered. Mark was on the other end of the line. He quickly told me to turn on the news...a plane had hit a tower in New York...he didn't know what happened. 

I grabbed the remote and clicked on the Today Show. They were reporting on this plane that had hit the World Trade Center, North Tower. I was in total shock. Disbelief! As we sat in the surrealism together on the phone, watching the news in silence, I caught sight of the second plane in the distance and whispered into the phone, "Oh my God, there's another one...". And it slammed into the side of the second tower. I jumped to my feet! "Oh MY GOD! They hit the other one!!!!". Mark had to get off of the phone. I sat on the bed, curled up in the comforters, tears streaming while I watched the panic in NY. 

Then they began reporting of yet another plane hitting the Pentagon. I was terrified! I rushed over to the window of the hotel room, facing eastward, I gazed hard into Downtown Houston...waiting for some plane to go careening into one of their towers. I called my dad and my mom. Sobbing on the phone to them..."I just want to come back home!". As I got off the phone with them, I sat still, watching the news broadcast. 

Then I was back on the phone with Mark and the second tower began to crumble. I stood straight up!  "oh my God, Mark, the tower is falling!!!". He had to go. I called my mom at work again. "Mom, the second tower fell!! You need to go get the kids from school!!". She said that everything was going to be ok. I cried that I really wanted to come back home! I searched in my mind for a way to get back to the safety of my family...I almost couldn't bear being alone in that hotel room. I could take the train back...I could rent a car...my dad could drive to get me ...Mark and I could cut his training meetings short and just go back. Something!!

Then more planes hit other places...more buildings fell. I was numb. I remember walking to the lobby of the hotel, in my boxers and t-shirt to get out of the room. But all of the televisions in the lobby were playing the news too. I went back. 

The rest of the day was blank for me. I kept an eye on downtown and watched the UHAUL truck parked in the driveway of the hotel all day. I watched lots of Martha Stewart Living that afternoon. 

Mark came back to the room and as we got ready for dinner, we watched Comedy Central for a break in the craziness of the news.  The first thing that was on was Saturday Night Live. It was insane (for the day). A skit came on and involved a Martian ship crashing into the Washington Monument. In the midst of this skit, it was cut off. And changed completely, to something else. Mark and I looked at each other in disbelief. We couldn't believe that someone would "forget" the subject of the skit and allow something like that to play for all of North America!!  Following SNL, Jon Stewart's Daily Show came on. This man broke my heart. On this day, a raw wound was reopened and it was brought to my attention that this affected EVERYONE!  

Jon Stewart - Daily Show

We carried on. Went off to dinner, constantly watched the news feeds of the buildings falling, over and over and over and over. 

This event in American history is probably one of the most traumatic in my life. I will NEVER forget. It is so disturbing.  I will never forget those innocent people, not knowing what was going on in the building below them, only waiting for their inevitable deaths. 

I pray for them and their families. Those who have to live through this day, in the sad...terrifying memories...of how the one they loved lost their life. I pray for all of them. May their lives not be forgotten...but remembered for the greatness that they lived on.