9/11/01

Nine years ago I was 19 years old living in Arvada, Colorado; a sophomore in college with a new boyfriend named Matt.  I was living on my own with three friends; one of whom has since passed away.  I was working as a server and I spent my summers as a nanny.

I woke up on this day nine years ago late; I was late for my first class of the day.  I rolled out of bed and contemplated not going to school (I blame it on the new boyfriend...).  I ended up throwing some jeans on and walked out of my room into the living room to find my three roomies, plus three of their friends, pasted to the TV.  I was up late, but these people were up early.  They told me I needed to sit down; they told me I wasn't going anywhere.  I watched for a few minutes in absolute horror.  My country was under attack.  No one knew anything.  Chaos and fear reigned.

I ran back to the bedroom to my boyfriend.  He calmed me down and we watched together.  After two hours straight of not knowing anything but watching everything, we needed to get out of the house.  We went to Starbucks and on the drive there I proceeded to break down...in front of my new boyfriend Matt.  I couldn't believe I was letting him see me like this but I just couldn't stop myself.  I was scared.  My mom lived a long ways away from me and all I wanted was her.  What if a plane crashed into a building in Denver?  What if, what if? What the heck was going on?

Over the next few weeks and months, we learned more about what happened.  While it brought understanding, to me it brought an incredible amount of anger, as it did the rest of the country.  Our great nation was brought to it's knees that day, and while we have since picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off, I mourn the innocent lives lost...everywhere, as a result of this day nine years ago.

Today is not a day that partisan politics should take center stage; today is a day we push ideologies aside and mourn together as a country.  Tomorrow we can go back to being liberals and conservatives; today, let's just be friends and think about where we were on this day nine years ago compared to where we are today.