Where Were You?

I've been tuning in to some of my friend's blogs as they have posted their stories from September 11. It's always so sobering, and healing, to share your story and hear other's stories from that day. In a nutshell, here's mine:
My dear hubby and and I were young newlyweds living in our apartment that September 2001. I rememmber that it had been a stressful, but exciting week, for me. I had just graduated from Arizona State University the month before, and taken a job with my husband's company while studying for my board exams (for music therapy). I had stayed up late the night before, however, stressing that I had not yet received my college diploma in the mail. "What if something is wrong?" "What if I didn't really graduate?" - silly worries that I promised to get remedied with a call to ASU in the morning. My hubby and I were sleeping when the phone rang - it was my husband's boss, calling to tell us to turn on our TV. We stumbled out of bed and hurried to the couch where we promptly turned on the news. The second plane had hit the towers just minutes before we tuned in. We sat, and as we realized what was happening, we began to pray out-loud.
I think what I remember most vividly is the moment that the towers fell - realizing that countless thousands had just lost their lives as I watched it unfold on television.
I didn't want to leave my husband's side, and I didn't want him to EVER leave me, but he encouraged me to go on to work. I remember feeling SUPER numb as I prepared and went to my job (working with preschool kids doing music). I only worked a half-day, and then went home to sit and stay glued to the news as the next few hours and days brought new light to what had happened to our country and to our lives.

I forced myself to stop this past Tuesday and to remember. I visited the 911 Digital Archive, a website I found last year on September 11th. www.911digitalarchive.org
It has many, many amazing pictures - some inspiring, some heartbreaking. I forced myself to look through one of the sets of pictures entitled "Victims". There is nothing graphic there, but there are many sharp and startling pictures of the people affected directly that day and in the days that followed.
I would encourage everyone to go and give at least one listen to Alan Jackson's song, "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?" I KNOW that you will find yourself somewhere in the song.