Never Forgotten, Always Grateful

Wow. Today is such a whirlwind of emotions. The first one is that I was actually at ECU today- the place where I was exactly 10 years ago. I cannot believe that it has been 10 years.  It seems like just yesterday that I was in Croatan, having just left an interior design class, grabbing a Gatorade and bagel before tracking off to my next class.

The image I saw, on the tiny mounted TV in Croatan, of the 2nd plane crashing into the 2nd tower will forever be seared into my memory.  We, myself and about 30 fellow ECU students, were speechless.  We didn't know what was going on, nor why this happened. I know I felt so scared and angry that someone, somewhere, could do this to our great country. I then saw more horrific images and the pentagon and knew life in America was forever changed because of these tragic events.

As a natural reaction, I immediately thought of my family. Mom, Dad and Kel- all a stones throw from DC and uncomfortably close to what I thought could have been the next attack- the CIA. Mom and Dad both worked in McLean, and Kel was still in high school (we both attended Langley) which shares athletic fields and a backyard with the CIA.  I raced back to a friends dorm, Tyler Hall, and frantically tried to call home. After a few hours of no cell signal, luckily for me, I found out my family was ok.  I wish it was the same for the thousands of people who lost a loved one.  Thank you to the heroes who saved so many lives.

You are never forgotten and we are always grateful.