Emily's story:
I was a senior in high school (yes, I know...I'm young...I get it). 2nd period (orchestra) had just ended and someone from the next period class had come in and was saying something about a bomb in New York. I didn't have time to stick around and listen because I had an orthodontist appointment so I left, signed myself out of school, and drove to the appointment. While I was sitting there in the chair, the music stopped and the dj's were talking about a crisis in New York City and how we were under attack. Everyone there was a little confused because we were only getting half of the story and by that point the Pentagon had been hit so we weren't sure if the attack was on New York or Washington, DC. The orthodontist worked fast and I got out of there and drove my car around the neighborhood to hear more before I went back to school. I waited in my car in the parking lot until there was a commercial break then I ran up to 3rd period (German) where the whole class was gathered around the tv watching what was going on. It felt like a dream, or a movie or something. I made it up to my class right after the piece of the Pentagon collapsed, in time to hear about the diversion of the plane headed for the Capitol Building and then see the 2nd tower collapse, live. It was incredible, and not in the good way. We just sat there in silence, no one dared to talk for the entire class period. The news kept replaying footage of the second plane crashing into the towers and long shots from Jersey of all the smoke. For a few moments, I was really scared that my sister, Terra, a flight attendant, might have been hurt but she flies for Southwest so I knew she was ok. I couldn't even imagine how people with family and friends inside the city must have been feeling. The rest of the day I don't remember much. I, along with everyone else I knew, was in a daze. I think a few of the teachers scrapped their lessons and we either talked about it or watched news coverage, if they had a tv. I remember the school being very quiet all day. Everyone was in shock and didn't have much to say. The very next day though, I remember a collective feeling of, "Ok, we're going to get through this. America can do this! We are meant for something great, and we are not victims!". Everyone seemed to get along and be so positive for a long time afterward. I was so proud of my country!
It's strange to think that those memories are still so vivid in my mind. A few random things:
*I can remember what I was wearing. I'm not sure if it was "western day" or if it was because I lived in Texas but I was wearing a blue and red plaid button up shirt, jeans and my cowboy boots. I think it must have been a dress up day for school because even though I wore western shirts all the time, I rarely wore my boots to school.
*I was having a really good hair day. Why I remember that, who knows. I was 16. It's what 16 year olds think about, I guess.
*I remember laying in the ortho chair staring up at the gold fleck ceiling and the dj interrupting a Celine Dion song.
*The school's parking lot security guard wasn't doing his patrol, he had gone into the boy's gym to watch the news coverage with all of the coaches, I saw him go in there as I was leaving for my appointment.
*While I was in German, my friend Sarah was either sitting on my desk or right next to me because we were holding hands and she was crying a little because she had moved from Pennsylvania, where the 4th plane crashed, and I think she had friends in New York.
*I didn't sign back in at the admin office after my appointment and I don't think they cared. I went back the next day, or later that day with my slip from Dr. Mohr and explained it to them.
I wish I could write more of what I was feeling that day, rather than doing but honestly, I was so shocked I wasn't really feeling anything. So there you go.
Brent's story (& 1st blog entry):
I was not even in the USA at the time. I was on my mission in Brasil, and had just over 3 months to go.
I remember that two days before on the night of Sep. 9th, my comp (and now bro-in-law), Jake Gordon, and I had traveled from our area of Linhares to Rio de Janeiro to our mission office. It was a really long trip that we made on an overnight bus ride. The reason for our trip was to renew our paperwork so that we could stay in Brasil as missionaries. Normally you would do this at about your one year mark and not 3 months before going home, but the office of the Brazilian government in charge of this was way behind on their paperwork. So we arrived in Rio the morning of the 10th and got our paperwork done and met with our leaders in the office that day. I remember we went to lunch at the Coliseu das Masas which is a famous place in Rio for all different kinds of pizzas. One of my favorites was the banana pizza. This has ruined bananas for me ever since. The bananas in Brasil are so flavorful and fresh that I can't even eat the bananas that we get here from the grocery store. This was fun as it was Jake's birthday that day.
In the evening we got back on a bus and headed back north overnight. I think we got back to our apartment in the morning of Sep 11th around 9 or 10 AM. We showered and changed our clothes and grabbed our things for the day and headed out. The main meal of the day in Brasil is lunch and so we met the other two missionaries in our district at the home of some members around 11ish. When we got there, I remember the member pointing to her tv and saying "Your country has a big problem going on." On the tv we could see two buildings with flames and smoke coming out of them. At first I thought it was just a big fire, but then I recognized the buildings as the World Trade Center where I had visited with my family 2 years prior. I think they showed some clips of the planes crashing into the buildings so we all thought it was just a bad plane crash. We weren't supposed to watch tv as missionaries so we went and ate lunch thinking it was just a crash. It was after lunch as we were getting ready to leave that the member again checked the tv and we saw that the buildings had collapsed and they were showing the replays. Jake and I were floored thinking that this couldn't be happening. The rest of the day is kind of a blur as I remember trying to go about our work and appointments but with things feeling different and uncertain. Some people would ask us if we heard our country was being attacked, others told us that our country deserved it as we had too much and it was to teach us a lesson, while others still were predicting war. Gratefully the majority were sympathetic and wanted to talk to us about it. We tried hard to focus on the gospel message we were bringing but everyone seemed distracted that day. I don't remember all the days of my mission that vividly, but that is one I will never forget.
We are grateful that we were blessed to be born in this great country and that we have the freedoms we enjoy. We hope we can do our part to live as we should so that Our Heavenly Father will continue to bless this land and all those that come here looking for freedom.
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