Soon after 9/11 I made two scrapbook pages. One is simply a newspaper clipping from the Washington Post of a very tattered US flag being held by several uniformed military people. The other is my story:
“On September 11, 2001, I was 37 weeks pregnant with Cameron. That morning I had an appointment with the back-up OB. Mommie drove Ani and me to the OB’s office. We arrived just minutes after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. When we entered the office it was silent except for the TV that everyone was staring at in disbelief. We quickly learned what had happened and joined everyone else watching the news in shock. Soon after the second plane hit the WTC and the third plane hit the Pentagon. After my appointment, we headed to my house and watched the news. Jamie came home from work early since the base was closed following the terrorist attacks (he had been in training off-base when the planes hit – he read about the attacks on his pager). We were able to quickly contact our family to make sure everyone was safe. 9-11 is truly a day when more than just the skyline changed.”
At the time we lived in southern Maryland. We knew several people who were in other parts of the Pentagon at the time the plane hit. Later we moved to northern VA. We met more people who were in the Pentagon at the time the plane hit. We attended church with the widow of a man who was killed while working in the Pentagon. We know a woman who was sitting at her desk in DC across the river from the Pentagon. She was celebrating her birthday. Her happy day turned to horror as she watched the plane fly into the Pentagon. Her horror increased when she learned that her friend had been killed. Five years later, it is once again her birthday. It’s a happy day again for her. She said if she lets it be a horrible day the terrorists have won. I agree with her.
Smaller on the Outside 