September morning

I've read several blogs remembering 9/11/2001 and they were all written much better than I could do, especially this one: My Life...lived my way, so I'm just writing a few words today.

I didn't know anything was happening until about 10 that morning, since I don't normally turn the TV on during the day. I got a call from work telling me that our shifts had been canceled that night, due to everything that was going on. I must have sounded confused, so she told me a plane had crashed in NY and no one knew what was going to happen.

As I watched the TV in horror, my parents called, wondering about Shoeshine. Although we were fortunate enough to not have any family or friends in NY to worry personally about, Shoeshine was in the Army at the time, based in NC. He was in the Airborne division which is often first on the scene when troops are sent anywhere. He called us later to check in, too soon to know what military action might be taken, but I knew he was okay that day.

Sectaurs was living at home then, going to a community college, and Ameranth was at Unity, in Maine, so they were accounted for quickly. My chick head count was not complete yet, I still had to worry about Ms M, who was in the Peace Corps in Moldova, in Eastern Europe, very near to all those 'stan' countries. There was no way for me to contact her, except through the PC office, but she was able to call us quite soon. Ms M had limited access to only Russian TV but had seen their news stories.

All of the PC volunteers had been told to keep a low profile and stay at home as much as possible. They were waiting to see what developed before deciding if the volunteers should all come to the capital, or be sent home. Of course, no one was too eager to fly right away, and they did end up staying put. Then, and in the days that followed, almost every Moldovan she spoke to told her how sorry they were that this had happened to her country.

I still remember the feeling that I had after I had contacted family members. Parents, husband, children, all okay. How lucky I was to have that relief, and so quickly. Thousands of others waited, worrying and desperate to hear from loved ones, friends, coworkers, acquaintances. So many never got the news they wanted.