I remember, I was...

I know it's a little late in the day for this post, but as I've said before, it's about near impossible to post while at work these days, so I have to wait and do all my blogging after I get home.

As we are all aware, today marks the eighth anniversary of "9/11". I've seen so any "where were you?" posts and mentions that I just couldn't help but remember where I was that morning so many years ago. I think Fidgeting Gidget had the best story. That line, "This is your Pearl Harbor." Wow. Heartbreaking as it is, it's so true. Just as the generations before us will forever remember where they were on December 7, 1941, our generation will always remember September 11, 2001.

For me, I was a freshman in college. My best friend and I were roommates in the dorms. We had Political Science together later that morning and were both getting ready for class in our room. I was logged into AIM (always logged in since my boyfriend lived over an hour away). A friend I went to high school with messaged me (which I thought was odd for so early in the morning...mind you we were an hour behind NYC). He said someone had flown into the towers in New York. We thought he was joking! He finally told us to turn on the TV. We did. And time stood still.

We both froze, then dropped onto our beds to stare at our tiny little 13" TV, watching the world as we knew it change forever. Then came the news that a plane hit the Pentagon and that the White House and Capitol Hill were being evacuated.

And I lost it.

You see, my sister was working on Capitol Hill at the time. She was a staffer for Senator Bill Frist. They started showing shots of people running out of the capitol building as it was being evacuated. I swear I saw her in the crowd.

Then came news that another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania...its intended target being either the White House or the capitol building.

I didn't know what to do. Do I call home? Do I call my sister? Do we go to class?? It was so early in our very first semester so we did indeed go to class. Only to get sent back to our dorm room. No classes were held that day. We spent the entire rest of the day glued to our little 13" screen praying for the best, but seeing the worst.

I did finally hear from my mom and everyone was okay. My sister was so freaked out though. She had only been living in DC for a couple months at that point. She was so far from home with few friends and no family nearby. We couldn't go to her. And she couldn't come home. I was so scared for her.

So this morning, with the first post I read that started out, "I remember, I was...", it all came flooding back. Just like it will every morning of September 11th for the rest of my life.

We will always remember.