I asked listeners to send their thoughts as we remember the events of September 11, 2001...here's a sampling:
I was so concerned and terrified at what was happening in the world, I left work, drove to NFC, and took both of my kids out of school, and we went home to be together. I look back and think that it must have been a motherly reaction to get "all my chickens" in one place together. It was a terribly sad and frightening day for our country. Will never forget.
On the evening of September 10, 2001, the scripture I read before I went to bed that evening was Psalm 46. A beautiful psalm that I love very much.It was only after the events of the next morning that I was truly overwhelmed that God had me read that scripture and plant it in my heart before I went to sleep that night.I had no idea how much I would need it and how real it would become to me...
I was working at Tallahassee Police at the time overtime and was working a crash at Cap Circle and Parkway. Heard the news on the radio…. Went to Fire Station 6 on the parkway and watched the planes fly into the second tower and then the Pentagon. We were on high alert for several weeks after that.
I remember that day I was working on the wine/beer industry just going about my route. When I made a stop to one of my convenience store accounts(Citgo), I noticed that the Pepsi rep was taking his product and pulling it from the display and putting it on his dolly. I thought it was weird that he was taking his product out of the store instead of bringing it in to stock, so I followed him outside. I then asked him “what’s going on?” He answers me saying, ”That guy in there(the store owner) was celebrating and cheering so I called my boss and he told me to pull my order back and leave. He said that we are not doing business with a bunch of terrorist sympathizers.” So I called my boss and told him and he told me to load the product back in my vehicle that was on display and get out of there. When I went back the next week and drove by the same convenience store along my route as usual, it was closed and I looked inside and noticed it was mostly empty. Not sure what happened to that store owner but either my boss or the Pepsi rep must have passed the word to other vendors and told them what happened. Sorry about the long winded story.
Here is my memory of 9/11. At the time I was a Navy wife living in Washington State. My husband and I had two children ages 5 and 1. My children's Father Brian Sadler (please feel free to use his name because he deserves to be honored and it would mean the world to our kids) had just returned home the night before 9/11 from a 6 month deployment on the USS Rainier which was the supply ship to the USS Carl Vinson. We slept in late that morning but woke up to our home phone ringing off the hook. There was a message on our answering machine from my Husbands Command telling him to return to the base immediately. We were all very confused, but as Brian was on the phone he looked at me and said “turn the TV on” It was 9:30 in the morning and the images I saw on the TV shook me to my core. Without another word he said “yes sir”, went back to our bedroom, put his clothes back in his bag, kissed us all good bye, and said “I have to go back to the base I will talk to you as soon as I can” and raced out the door. We had no idea where the ship was going, or why, and I had no time to process the images on TV or what to do next. My son was 5 at the time and all he knew was his Dad had just returned home and was now leaving again after seeing the image of the first plane hit the tower. From that point on I shielded him from the TV and from letting him see me fall apart not knowing what was happening. Much later I would learn that all ships from every port in the United States were ordered to leave the base because they were more vulnerable to attack in port vs out to sea. I will never forget that day and the weeks that followed. I will never forget seeing my children’s Father walk out the door to his car not knowing if I or our children would ever see him again. We were some of the fortunate ones, he eventually returned to his family while so many never did. We will never forget. None of us should.