Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago today, I had just started my first year as a Graduate Assistant Resident Director at Capital University of Columbus, Ohio.  We were in our Residence Life staff meeting, and someone mentioned that a plane had just struck one of the World Trade Center Towers.  When I left the meeting, I went straight back to my apartment in Cotterman Hall and turned on the television where I was transfixed by what I saw.  Peter Jennings, who'll always be my favorite anchorman, was talking about the tragic events of the morning.

I called my mother and asked her if she knew what happened.  She turned on the television too and we watched together for the next hour, discussing it all over the phone as it happened.  Watching each of the Towers fall, seeing black smoke bellow from the Pentagon, and hearing the report of the plane crashing in Pennsylvania were all really haunting to witness. 

After that hour, I was called to assist on campus.  I went to the service on campus with many of the students, staff, and faculty.  I remember a lot of people crying, and the world just seemed like it was in a fog. 

There are three specific memories I recall most vividly on that day:

• It seemed like the first-year students in my residence hall were playing the song "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton in just about every other room as I walked by to check on them.  That song will always be engrained in my soul in association with September 11th.
• The candlelight service that night outside of the Campus Center.  Listening to students speaking into a microphone about their reflections.  Holding that candle in my hands and seeing everyone else doing the same was somehow calming, I suppose.  Small lights to offer some hope.
• Calling my best friend Marcus from my parents' house (just five miles north) in the backyard, I looked up and saw a crystal clear starry night sky.  Marcus was in Virginia, and we just thought about how big - yet small - the world seemed to be that day.  We spoke over the phone with emotion just in awe that no planes would cross that starry night sky.

Today the events of September 11th, 2001 and the people so greatly affected by it are marked in my heart.  Always remember.  Always reflect.

Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles"