Perspective on a 20-Year-Old Memory

I think that probably every one of us who are old enough remembered at some time today what they were doing or where they were 20 years ago this morning, when the first plane flew into the first of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I was in "my room," the reading room, at our Montessori school. The phone rang and it was the husband of one of my co-workers...he was calling to let us know what had happened. We had no other communication with the outside world except the phone or someone coming to the school to tell us something had happened...pre cell phones! Pre cell phones puts a little perspective on 20 years ago! I remember the rest of the morning just sort of a blur...hearing different things from parents, etc. as they picked up their children. I never saw or heard anything on TV or radio until I was going home from school. The "picture" that remains engrained in my memory is of the cloud of dust and debris rolling down the street...just like a scene from a dramatic/horror movie about a diaster happening in a make-believe city. Of course, all the horrors of that day and days to follow are there in my memory, too...memories that were all too real...that I should only have been seeing in a movie and not real life! "20 years ago" is what I have had the hardest time to wrap my mind around. 20 years, these days, can either seem like eons ago or just yesterday! I can't picture myself 20 years ago in my mind. What really brought me up short to realize how long ago it was, was seeing a photo of then President George Bush on that day...oh, my, but he looked young! Seeing him on the actual day put things more in perspective for me of 20-year-old memories. The next thing that put things even more personally into perspective was thinking about our grandchildren...presently we have nine...then we had two and another on the way. Our now 28-year-old granddaughter was only 8 and our now 24-year-old grandson was only 4 and Graham would be born five months after 9/11. The perspective...none of them, even the seven to be born over the years following 9/11, have an actual memory of that day...only what has been told/shown over the years since that fateful day 20 years ago...yet that day molds their daily lives in ways that they may never understand. When I think back and reflect on the actual day and days to follow, I remember how we came together as a nation putting aside all differences...political, religious, race, etc. We came together to help each other get through the unthinkable, whether we had been at ground zero or thousands of miles away. I wouldn't want anything like that to happen again, but do wish that we as a country could out aside differences and pull together as a united nation once again. In your remembrances: Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!