I can remember exactly what I was doing when the first plane hit. At first it was reported as just a small plane that went astray. Quickly it became much more than that.Please tell me what you remember from that day and what followed.
In just a few days, our country will pause to remember on the 120th anniversary of 9/11.
My new book, When the Lights Go Out seeks to help kids understand what happened. Many of them today know little or noting about it, or why the events of 9/11 are so important. I may take some comments and spotlight them in my blog, so you are giving me the rights to do that when you comment.
Thank you.
Aso check out a special blog page for When the Lights Go Out
http://max-whenlightsgoout.blogspot.com/
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7 comments:
I was driving to work and thought the radio hosts were playing a prank. Wasn't until I got to the office & saw the TV in the conference room that I realized it was for real. Surreal!
My daughter was in kindergarten & doesn't remember 9/11 itself. I took her to work with me on 9/12 (because I knew the school would be talking about it to the kids and she got upset watching the Three Stooges, so I knew she'd be hysterical over this). What she remembers of that day is all the sad songs on the radio. You can certainly use that!
Max, your book sounds wonderful. I don't think you can use this but it is interesting: One strange thing I remember about 9/11 that I never heard anyone mention was the moon. I rose around four a.m. that day and walked out to my driveway to get the paper. I looked up at the sky and there was a gibbous moon with a star in its center. It looked just like the moon and star on the Islam flag. I still get chills thinking about it.
I was on my way back to work after having a doctor's appointment. I was shocked to say the least. I worked at a Nuclear Plant and couldn't wait to tell everyone. I really wasn't thinking was I? The plant already knew about it and work came to an abrupt halt. Our supervisors kept us updated on everything that was happening. It was decided that all employees were to be sent home. We were told to listen to the radio to see if we were to report the next day. I was amazed when I reported to work the next day. Big barriers were put up on the access road to the plant. Stationed guards met us as we drove in and we had to show I.D. and our vehicles were searched. Our Visitor's Center was shut down. No more functions were to be held there. Security was tightened like we hadn't seen before. It would sometimes take an hour to get from the front gate to the parking lot. I ended up coming in to work an hour earlier to try to avoid the back-up. Those were scary times!
I was pregnant and ended up giving birth 2 weeks later. I was on the exercise bike when a friend left a message telling me to turn the TV on. I called her back and we watched the coverage together, unable to fully grasp what we were seeing. My oldest son was in preschool and I had an overwhelming urge to get to/see/ hug him, so I went to his preschool an hour early and the normally strict teachers let me sit in the classroom for the last part of class. Going to a hastily called church meeting that night was a comfort.
I remember a student running down the hallway asking me to turn on the TV because a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers. She and her family along with my principal and his family had visited there 3 months prior. We were told to leave the TV's on all day. We watched the events over and over. I tried to comfort and reassure the students. We waited to hear from family living near the Pentagon, one member who worked in the Pentagon and from my sister's former roommate who worked in one of the Towers. Her roommate didn't survive the others were fine. I had students write about ways they saw others showing compassion through adversity. Writing about things seemed to help both me and my students. Feel free to use this if you want.
I remember that I was still wearing my pink flannel pajamas while working at my computer that morning. The TV was on in the other room, but I wasn't paying any attention to it until the news interrupted the normal programming.
Mom and Dad come to town for a couple of hours that day. I had bought my house a few months before and I can remember talking about the events of the morning as my Mom and I planted tulip bulbs in my backyard.
That night our church held a prayer meeting. What a blessing at the end of a world changing day. I hope we don't forget. Thank you for writing your book.
Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate them very much.
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