W is for where we were

It's amazing how we can all remember where we were at watershed moments in history. I was in the second grade when Kennedy was assassinated, and I remember the principal coming over the loudspeaker to tell us. I also remember walking home with my best friend, and how she was crying. I didn't understand what was happening.

For 9/11, I was at home. I had just gotten up and took a look at the TV, where they were playing the film of the first crash...over and over. My first thought was some idiot pilot didn't know what he was doing.
Well, by the second crash, of course, I'm sure we all knew we weren't dealing with idiots. Narrow-minded monsters, but not idiots.
My husband was out on business, which sometimes takes him to the city. First thing was to check where he was--he happened to be on the East End of Long Island that day. Then I checked in with my then-agent, who lives in the city. She was okay.

Nicky came home early from school. He didn't know why he'd been dismissed so I explained it to him. I guess he was about 10 at the time. It shows how different things are--back in 1963, the principal thought nothing of telling grammar school kids the president had been killed. Nowadays, they leave it to the parents--which I think is the right way to do it.

Later, I took Katherine and went to the grocery. The biggest thing we noticed was that the skies were so quiet. There are usually a lot of planes. The only ones we saw were 3 airforce jets flying in formation. That scared Katherine, but I said they were there for our safety.

I'm grateful I didn't lose anyone in any of the horrible incidents. This past summer, I visited the site where the airplane went down in Pennsylvania. They have a printed copy of the exchange that went on. It's terrifying to read. What made me so angry was to see the terrorists saying things like "Allah is good, Allah is merciful." No matter what you want to call God, it is an insult to Him to call Him good and merciful while you are committing the ultimate sin of murder. (Well, as much as God can be insulted, since no one can know His mind.)

The only thing we can hope is that those who died that day, died so quickly they didn't feel anything. I don't even really think we can imagine the fear.

Two small things I remember from that day: a neighborhood kid driving around with his sunroof open, while another kid waved a huge America flag above the car.

And a visit from a strange cat. It was a big, puffy thing like a persian. I was sitting on my front steps and he came up and started rubbing against me. He was all matted and his nails were too long. I got out my pet brush and clippers and groomed him. It was something else to think about instead of the horrors of the day. He stayed for a while, then went on his way. The strange thing is that I never saw him before that...and never saw him again.

God bless everyone we lost that day, and all the people who did their best to help put this country back together again.