10 years later

No doubt there will be a lot of tributes to 9/11 in the blogosphere today — as there should be. It’s a day that will never be forgotten. A day to pause to remember those lives lost that Tuesday morning, as well as the lives lost in the resulting war on terrorism.

And while I don’t have anything poignant to say that won’t be said in thousands of other blog posts today, I will share what I was thinking about this morning as I went for a walk with my Doberman and reflected back on that fateful morning in 2001.

I was a sophomore at Texas Tech University. When the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, I was getting ready to go to my 9:30 a.m. introduction to public relations class. Like any other morning, I was fixing my hair and doing my makeup while listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning on the radio in my one bedroom apartment. Jennifer Paige was on the show promoting her new single. Kidd interrupted her to announce the first plane had crashed. Soon after, we learned the crash was no accident — we were under attack.

By the time my class started, we were still learning details. That class proceeded more or less as scheduled. By chance, the professor had planned to cover an introduction to crisis public relations that day, so we did. We talked about how this crisis would and should be handled by the airlines and other companies affected.

By the time that class was dismissed, we knew a lot more about this attack. I walked to my next class —an 11 a.m. electronic media class — to find professors and students watching the news on a projection screen in the computer lab. We all sat there watching the news together for awhile, and then went home. Class was cancelled. That Friday, the entire university would be closed in honor of the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.

I was on one of the first planes out of Lubbock later that week, flying home to Dallas/Fort Worth for the long weekend. The airports and planes felt deserted, but I felt safe. I trusted God, I trusted President George W. Bush and I trusted our armed forces.

Today and every day, I’m so thankful for the men and women who work both here and abroad to keep this country safe.

And, I am thankful for you all who read my little blog. What were you doing on Sept. 11, 2001? How will you remember that day?