On this day...

September 11th is really our generation's "Where were you when JFK was shot?," only on a much more tragic, everyman kind of level. Unlike JFK, who was a President and in that respect made himself vulnerable to attack, most of the people who died that day were good people who spent their time working, paying the bills, going out to eat, falling in love, falling out of love, having children and all the other little joys and sorrows that come with being human.

I feel remiss in writing nothing about 9/11/01 on this most horrible of anniversaries. There are no words, really, but here's what I wrote in response to the question: Where were you on 9/11?

"I’ve never been a religious person, but I was in a church when the second plane hit the south tower of the WTC. I was newly engaged and we were searching for a church for our ceremony. I heard a brief news bulletin on the radio that a plane had hit one of the towers… but it was a small plane, they thought. No further info.

I went into the church, talked to the wedding coordinator, came out about 30 minutes later, and by then the whole damn world was turned upside down. The second plane had hit, and it was clear that this was no accident. Not knowing what else to do, I went into work.

I live in the [Mediocre City] area, and I worked Downtown at the time. My office was on the 29th floor of a building less than two blocks from [insert major news network] headquarters. The walls were all glass, with no offices ringing the outer perimeter. Great views, but I’ve never felt so unsafe and exposed in my life. Once I arrived at the office, I saw that DC had been hit. I took my stuff and just left. My now-husband and I went to his place in the [Mediocre City] suburbs, a safe distance from downtown.

I remember I took a nap that day. I recall saying to my now-husband: “I can’t just sit around watching this TV, waiting for more planes to crash into buildings. Wake me up when it’s all over.”

Fortunately we didn’t lose anyone dear to us that day. My husband has many cousins, aunts and uncles who work in the city, some of them on Wall Street. We were lucky.

I remember I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my life. For months afterwards, the military was running drills through downtown. Military helicoptors would zoom over top of our building. It was very unnerving to see them coming, only to pull upward as they drew nearer to our building.

I also remember how quiet it was outside. It’s odd to look up and see no planes in the sky… or to hear them. I remember flying my first cross-country direct flight from [Mediocre City] to Sacramento, CA in October 2001. I was shaking. The flight was nearly empty. I was terrified, which I guess was the whole point of 9/11, now wasn’t it?"