11 years ago.

Today marks 11 years that the terrorist attacks happened.
I can very clearly remember where I was.

Dave and I had only been married a few months and we were living in a dark bottom floor apartment in Magna.
My sweetie had went to work that morning and I didn't have a job yet.  I was sleeping in our bed when he called me telling me to turn on the t.v because a plane had just hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York.  I was ornery at him because I didn't care (really because I didn't understand) but I turned on the t.v.  I remember reaching over to our forest green hand-me-down dresser where our t.v sat and flicked it on.  At the moment the picture came to view the second tower was struck.  I thought I was watching a replay but then I realized I wasn't.
I didn't know what to make of it.  I didn't understand it.  I sat up in my bed and continued to watch as I began to realize that this wasn't okay.  Then I heard the news of the pentagon, and the plane that went down in the field and really began to be scared.  It felt as if nothing was safe anymore.
It was only in May that I was on a plane going to and coming home from Europe and now I didn't want to ever get on a plane again.
But it wasn't just getting on a plane, it was going anywhere.  Nobody seemed safe.

That night I remember clinging to my husband and crying as we talked about what happened.  I was terrified to bring my children into a world where this was happening.

I often think about that.  I think that my children will never know the world pre-9-11.  They will never know what it is like to go to the airport gates and wait for your loved ones.  They will never know the freedom we have felt so stripped of sense then as now this is the normal.

I have yet to forget what I felt that day.
I have yet to forget what I felt in the days following.
I remember feeling like everyone was a little prouder to be an American and we all were so grateful for our country and our families.
Now it feels like we are divided down the middle.

Although I didn't know anyone personally who was in the towers or in any of the planes, I was changed.
Today as I reflect back on that day I realize just how lucky I was as many lost loved ones and many lives were devastated.

I will always remember.