Saturday, September 11, 2021

Thoughts on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

I visited the dentist for the first time since the pandemic began yesterday, and as I stared at the x-ray screen, especially the date stamp, I said, “Tomorrow’s 9/11”. And we both exchanged our stories from that day. She was a 7th grader then. I was in my sophomore year of high school.

My morning routine during high school years was: wash up, head down to the kitchen for a bite, and watch a few minutes of GMA/ABC News before walking to the school bus stop. When I turned on the TV, the special report was already underway, and started with the replay of the North Tower first. Ignoring the voice over from Peter Jennings (to this day, my favorite news anchor of all time) I reached the same conclusion as most others: what a horrific accident. That conclusion was short-lived, as it cut straight to the South Tower crash. On the bus, our driver who usually had the dial set to KISS Country, had the news feed on. We listened in horror and astonishment as one of the towers collapsed.