I had a random post planned for today and then I got a weekly email from one of my daughter’s teachers where she keeps parents in the loop with assignments, test dates and discussions. This is much appreciated, as pulling such info from a 13 year old is quite a chore. I can barely get her to say, “Good morning.”
This sentence of the teacher’s email stopped my post-writing in its tracks: I will also use some religion and social studies time…to talk about 9/11. I am entering those years where none of the students have any memory of something that was so lifechanging for all of us.
It’s hard to believe that a day so crisp in my memory, is not even a glimmer in the child’s with whom I spent that fateful day. I’ve told my daughter the story over and over; how she was watching Barney, my husband called, we went to the library, they sent everyone home, I watched the south tower fall and fell to my knees, then watched both towers fall over and over and over until it was all I could dream about that night. I’ve told her about the beautiful blue sky and the quiet. It was so quiet. It’s odd that among the terror and chaos, what stands out to me is the silence and stillness of that day.
But, she doesn’t remember because she wasn’t even three years old and part of me is very glad about that.
I will keep remembering for both of us.
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Sue Diamond-Phillips
I love this. In a world where it’s now not cool to remember, or be proud of America, this post means so much.
Mom Off Meth
Well said. It is a sad topic. My kids do not remember either. But they are very interested in the story, too horrible to even imagine.
WorkingMom
Beautifully written post. I’m in the same place – the Oldest started kindergarten the week before, the MidKid was almost two. I also appreciate that your daughter’s teacher let the parents know ahead of time she was going to cover it, and that she is going to talk about it. Sometimes I feel many’s memories are so short or they feel so removed, the anniversary means nothing to them.
Mary Lynn
It’s funny how you mention “the beautiful blue sky and the quiet.” Those are the first two things that I always remember — how gorgeous the weather was, and the quiet skies.
Momo Fali
The sky looks the same way this morning. I think of the victims of the attacks often, but especially when there is a clear, blue sky.
meleahrebeccah
that is EXACTLY what I think about when I remember this day.
Arnebya
Maybe I noticed it before, but for some reason, the minute I woke up today I thought the day FELT the same, temperature-wise. I don’t remember having that much of a deja vu in years past. Today the weather was eerily similar. It is strange sometimes to realize that my children will only have this day as a memorial rather than a memory. My oldest wasn’t yet one and like you, I’m glad she was that young. At the same time, I want to impress upon her to never forget, even though you didn’t “live” it.
muffintopmommy
I totally agree. I remember actually looking up the sky on my way out to work that morning—the sun was so warm on my face—and not a cloud in the sky. I’ll never forget how I felt before and after. It seemed like such a perfect day.
meleahrebeccah
“She doesn’t remember because she wasn’t even three years old and part of me is very glad about that. I will keep remembering for both of us.”
Love.
WebSavvyMom
–>I always think about the weather and how Katie Couric and Matt Lauer said the same thing first thing on the TODAY show that morning.
**Sigh**
My good friend wrote this column for a paper in NC about today’s anniversary.
http://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-preserving-sept-11-memories-1209861
deb
Ann in NJ
I was pregnant with my youngest,who is now old enough that his social studies teacher also talked about the attacks yesterday. So we had a discussion at breakfast. And today’s weather in the New York metropolitan area was very similar to that day 11 years ago, so it has been on my mind all day.
Even if we are saying the same things every year, I think it is still worth saying.
Sharon Graham
While I was not directly impacted (no family or friends in the towers), I will never forget where I was and how I wept for fellow Americans that lost their lives that day. Thank you for sharing your story. ~ Sharon
Erin
My kids weren’t born in 2001. I was engaged to their father and we were working together that day. It was my 25th birthday. My mom also worked in the same building, so she asked a bunch of people we worked with to help her deliver 25 cards to me through the day. The memories of that day has a very surreal cast to it for me – the happiness I was feeling because it was my birthday and then the crushing hurt and fear for my friends and family.
I remember the gorgeous fall day and I thought the sky looked similar today, too. I also remember, a while after the attacks, my grandma pointing out that with all the airlines shut down, that there weren’t any con trails in the sky.
Last year, I watched some footage of the attacks on the 10th anniversary and cried. Freaked my kids completely out because I was crying on my birthday. But my birthday and the anniversary of these attacks have become somewhat entwined. I can’t have one without the other any more, but I do try to keep the sadness from overshadowing my birthday.
Vicki
Diane, I love this post. It inspired me to reflect and write about that day too.
Rosemary
I went to the memorial for the first time yesterday. On 9/11/2001, i saw the second plane hit the second tower and then saw the first tower fall, all from my office window in New Jersey that overlooked the downtown skyline. Will truly never forget!
Anne Weber-Falk
We talk about this with our children. We also talk about the similarities with Pearl Harbor. This is another moment in our history that most of us only know from school books and brief mentions in the paper.
Kathy
The most startling thing for me is that I was standing front and center of the same classrooom that Alison is sitting in, with many of the same things on the walls, maybe different chairs, different desks, but 8th graders none the less, as my “flashbulb” memory.
Since that day, I have made a commitment to every Junior High kid that ever passes through my classroom. They will know the gravity of what happened that day, and it will not just simply go down in history.