Ten years ago today, I was a sophomore in high school. I was sitting in a classroom with my flag team. I don’t remember why we were in a classroom and weren’t out at the football field, practicing for our Friday night football game. I was also editor of the school newspaper, and my flag coach was our newspaper supervisor. Since we were just sitting in the classroom, she let me on the computer to work on several things for the paper. I checked my email, and after I signed out, a news headline came up on MSN. It said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I called my teacher over to see it, and after reading it, she immediately turned on the television. By the time we found a channel covering the news, the plane had already hit the second tower.

I remember staring at the TV, just sitting in disbelief. By that time, everyone was sure that it was a terrorist attack. I thought back to the Oklahoma City bombing, and I wondered why this was happening again.

There were so many different emotions in that classroom. I remember one girl whose mom called up to the school and said she was on her way to pick her up because she just knew the world was ending. Not everyone had that dramatic of a reaction. I think the most common thing running through eveyone’s minds was ‘why?’

Over the rest of that day and on through the rest of the week, we were all glued to the TV, watching the coverage, trying to make sense of this horrible thing. I remember a feeling of helplessness and realizing there was nothing I could do but pray.

I can’t remember exactly, but either that Friday or the Friday after, we had our football homecoming. I remember it being a bittersweet event. I remember how do we have fun while so many people in our nation are hurting? I had a really pretty homecoming mum that was made my freshman year. I decided the year I got it that every year I would add something to the flower part of it, something of significance. Pulling it out to get ready for that homecoming game, Momma and I added a small American flag. It is still there today, and every year that I wore it, that flag was a reminder of that day and the victims of that terrible attack.

I remember admiring the strength of President Bush and of Mayor Giuliani. I remember the American pride that seemed to sweep the nation in the days and weeks after. Everyone seemed to come together, regardless of age, race, or political affiliation. We were all just Americans.

I could go on and on about my feelings and memories about September 11, 2001. Instead, I’ll end here with one of my favorite pictures to come out of that day. I love it, but it brings tears to my eyes every single time I see it. I think it symbolizes the strength of our nation.