9-11, nine years later...

This Saturday, will mark the nine year anniversary of 9-11. It is unreal to me that 9-11, the world changing event that most of us punctuate our lives by on some level -- post 9-11 world/landscape -- is almost a decade removed from today. Weirder still, all children in elementary school today know no other world than the post 9-11 one; if you asked them where they were when 9-11 happened, they would have no answer because, well, they wouldn't have been born yet!

Bringing me to the point of this blog -- where were you when 9-11 happened? I have no doubt all of us have a very specific, detailed story to share, our generation's where were you when Kennedy was shot. If you have the time, interest, ability, share your story. Trust me, at some point on Saturday, you will tell your story. Why not get a dress rehearsal now?

Here is mine, which even if no one responds, I am glad to share...

I was living in Tucson but on the heels of moving to LA. I was packing a suitcase for a mid-morning flight from Tucson to Denver (where I would join my two oldest brothers) with a connection to Indianapolis for my Grandmother's funeral when the friend who was taking me to the airport called and insisted I TURN ON THE NEWS -- I tuned in just in time to see the second tower fall. She added with a bit of drama, "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE TODAY." Of course she was right, but we wouldn't figure out until later all flights would be grounded for over a week. If right when the towers hit, my brothers and I would have gotten in a car and driven to Indianapolis, what my entire family did for my grandfather's funeral before I was born, we wouldn't have made it in time. Our relatives decided not to postpone the funeral as we were the only long-distance ones effected (or is it affected) by 9-11 finding subs for my brothers as paw bearers.

I am glad my grandmother never lived in a post-9-11 world even if it cost three of her grandchildren, who will live most of their lives in a post-9-11 world, from being at her funeral.