911 Memories

I didn’t have to be in the office until late that Tuesday, having worked late the night before. Mrs. Sage had just left for work; I was sitting at the table reading and drinking my second cup of coffee. It think it was around 7:30 AM, Mountain Time. My daughter, just three and a half, was still asleep. Mrs. Sage couldn’t have gotten very far down the road when she called from her cell phone, yelling frantically for me to turn on the TV, saying something about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. Immediately I went into the living room and turned the TV on and saw a picture of the building burning and then the second plane flying into the second tower. Nothing made sense. Soon, the news outlets were breaking from New York with reports from Washington of an attack on the Pentagon. There were rumors of other attacks. I heard something about a bomb at the State Department, but nothing more was said about it and it turned out to be a rumor. The morning developed into a fog. I got on the internet to see if I could find out more, but the news only had a line or two about the attacks. I checked my mail and a friend who lived in New York City emailed everyone on his list to say that he was okay. I went back to the TV, heard about the plane crash in Pennsylvania and how all airplanes were being grounded. Through all of this, my daughter who was normally up early in the morning slept. After about an hour of watching in horror, I went up to her room and sat by her bed and watched her sleeping, afraid of waking her into this world we found ourselves living. Running through my head as a desperate prayer all that day were the words of the Psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46)