Five Years Ago

Today is the fifth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 and forever changed our world. I was between jobs and woke up and was making some coffee when I heard on the Imus in the Morning show that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. At first, they were thinking there was a mishap with the plane. That was until the second plane hit. I turned on the TV and was speechless and in shock. Then there was a report about a plane crashing in Pennsylvania and the one that crashed into the Pentagon. I was stunned.

My sister called. She was working downtown and was able to use Metro to get to the DC/Maryland line. I drove up to Friendship Heights to get her and drive over to Mom's place. On the way over we saw my friend Jim's mom working in her yard. We stopped to talk to her. It was very helpful for the three of us to share our thoughts. As my sister said, it's her only real clear memory of that day five years ago. Later when we got to Mom's, I finally was able to get through to Weena, she was going home as her offices closed. We were concerned about Weena's cousin's fiancee Joe, a pilot for American Airlines who routinely flew out of Logan Airport. We found out that he was in Northern Virginia on vacation. My cousin Katie was supposed to be at a meeting at the World Trade Center that day around 11:00, but she got to Newark early AM and pretty much saw the events unfolding before her eyes. She wrote a thorough and detailed e-mail to all of us a few days after she got home that I wish I had kept.

I didn't think I would write anything about this anniversary, preferring to stay away from all news reflecting on this day, but as the day went on my mind kept racing back to five years ago. I had to post something. I know Benjamin will ask what we were doing and where we were as he gets older.

When we attend Mass, Weena and I pray for the end of violence and terrorism. We pray for peace among all people and all nations. We pray for the families who lost loved ones and we pray for those working for the end of violence and terrorism.