Remembering

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I arrived at work at 8:30 to begin my day as a teller at First Union Bank in Port Orange, Florida. Just about 10 minutes before we opened the doors to customers, our manager ran from the break room to the teller line to tell us that the World Trade Center was on fire because a small plane had hit it. Shocked, but not terribly concerned, we continued about our business as usual.

At 9:00, we unlocked the doors and customers began to file in. A few minutes after we opened the doors, a customer came in and informed us that another plane had hit the other WTC tower. My coworkers and I then took turns going to the break room to watch the news coverage on TV. As the situation continued to unfold and as we began to realize that this was no accident, the decision was made to roll the TV out to the lobby so that we could continue to work but also so we could keep updated on the news of the attacks.

As the morning went on, customers began to come in with tears rolling down their cheeks. And the news just kept getting worse: the Pentagon was hit. Both towers collapsed. A plane crashed just outside of Pittsburgh. And of course there were the rumors: bombs at the State Department, planes headed towards the White House and the Capitol Building, Disneyworld and Cape Canaveral (both just 50 miles from where we were) was on the list of attack targets. Things got crazy quick. All of a sudden, people started coming to the bank wanting the withdraw their ENTIRE accounts. I remember one gentleman, who had more money in his account than we had in the entire bank, demanded we give him every last cent of his money. We had to scramble and borrow money from other First Union branches, but we eventually were able to get it to him.

I called my dad who, at the time, was working at a plant in Greenville, PA. Anyone who remembers that day remembers thinking that they didn't know what was going to come next. I don't know why, but I was so scared for my dad even though he was over a hundred miles from where United 93 came down. I remember crying on the phone and telling him that I wished that our family was together, and I told him how much I love this country and how grateful I was that he brought his family to America.

Word came from our bank headquarters in Charlotte, NC that all branches would be closing at 12 noon. When the bank closed, I immediately drove over to my friend Rebekah's house. We watched TV in stunned silence as channel after channel went dark to pay respects for the thousands of people that were dying that day. We decided to go over to Don & Dianne White's (the leaders or our college ministry) house. I remember walking to the car that afternoon and thinking how quiet it was outside. I felt like everything around us had stopped. I will never forget that moment. It was incredibly eerie.

For the rest of that dreadful day, a bunch of us "family-less" college students gathered at the White's. Word came that evening that the Feds were in Daytona Beach looking for information on some students who had attended Embry-Riddle, the flight school that we all went to. All of a sudden, the attacks seemed a little closer and a little more personal. Not knowing what would or could happen on this day like no other, we went around locking the doors and closing the blinds on the windows. In retrospect, that was probably a little silly, but we all were in fear that night.

I remember thinking the worst when we were in the kitchen watching the little TV and there was breaking news that radar showed a formation of airplanes in Alaska. At this point, of course, there were supposed to be no airplanes in the sky anywhere in North America. I remember thinking that the next wave of attacks was about to begin. A few minutes later, they said that the Air Force had confirmed that the planes were theirs. Thank God.

As it turns out, there was no next wave. And, seven years later, we have been spared another attack on our soil. Whether or not you support our President, the war or whatever...I think it is worth being grateful to our government that nothing has happened since.

September 11, 2001 was my generation's December 7, 1941. It changed our country forever. It will be a day I will never forget. And as we pause today to remember the 2,700+ people that lost their lives that day, let us pray that a day like this never happens again.