I Will Always Remember

I was a junior at the University of Arizona. I was in the Alpha Chi Omega house. My alarm had just gone off.

My roommate and I both had 8 am Tuesday/Thursday classes so our alarms had gone off and we were slowing getting out of bed when someone knocked on our door. We opened it to find one of our sisters crying. She told us to turn on the TV - we were under attack. A plane had flown into both of the WTC towers and one into the Pentagon. My roommate's mom worked at the Pentagon.

We sat there in our room while she tried to get someone - anyone - on the phone to find out if her mom was ok. No one had heard from her. I sat on her bed and held her through what should have been my 8 am class.

We moved to the TV room in the house where girls were gathered around watching the news. I attempted to go to my 10 am class, but when I got there the teacher said that it wasn't worth doing a lesson - if we chose to, we could stay in class and talk about the events with each other, but if we wanted to leave, we were welcome to do so.

I walked across an eerily empty campus back to the house and up the stairs to a near silent TV room. The only sounds were those of the news and an occasional sob.

I remember swelling with pride at the way we all rallied around NYC and DC. At the love that everyone had for our Country.

To this day I can not watch footage from that day without tearing up and usually out and out crying.

One of the greatest memories I have of that time was when President Bush visited Ground Zero, despite the advice of those around him, and quite unplanned got up onto a pile of rubble that I believe turned out to be a fire truck, and spoke to the men and women who were searching day and night for survivors.

When he yells out, "I can hear you!" I get goosebumps. I want to stand up and chant U-S-A with them!

I do not directly know anyone who was killed in the attacks that day. My roommate's mom made it out.  I can not imagine the pain that those families who lost loved ones feel.

I do know this - when that first plane, and three succeeding it, hit - they hurt me. They hurt my Country. They hurt my fellow Americans. I will never forget how that felt. I will never forget how it feels. I will never forget. I will always remember.

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