Good morning! What a beautiful day! Cool weather, no humidity. Yay! Off to an early start on my day off from work, and want to take a moment to reflect on the past. Today is 9/11/12, and 11 years ago, our country was driven to our knees by the World Trade Center attacks.

I don’t think anyone will ever forget where we were, or what we were doing when our sense of security was forever altered. I can even remember my thoughts and actions. My morning started much the same as today. It was my day off from my job, and I was off to an early start of knocking out my to do list. I was sitting in a local car repair shop getting my car worked on and watching a small TV mounted to the wall. When suddenly, I watched an airplane fly into the tower of The World Trade Center in NYC! OMG!!! Is this real ? I remember my brain telling me this was really really bad!!! Living on the east coast, I suddenly realized the proximity of NYC to me was closer than I had ever thought… My immediate response was to run into the back of the repair shop and drag the mechanic out to the TV.

Just as he joined me in the reception area, another airplane struck! Whoa! So he says to me, “That can’t be real, they just replayed it again.” I said, “NO! NO! that’s a different plane, there are 2 planes !!!” Within minutes, he realized this wasn’t a movie! This is happening right now! The hair on my arms stood on end, followed by a cold tremble, and then it felt like heat rushing to my brain…

Needless to say, that was the quickest car repair I’ve ever had. I left him standing there with his eyes glued to the screen, went home and quickly began my phone calls to my family and peeps. I even had a 2 hour conversation with a sister I hardly ever see or talk to. The rest of my day was spent with the TV.

The following day was somber indeed… I was working as a mail carrier and my route was located less than a mile from Dover Air Force Base. The sound and sights of airplanes overhead is a normal everyday occurrence, similar to people who live near a train track ,and the noise associated with your proximity. But not today… It was deathly quiet, not a plane in the sky… Many of my customers weren’t coming out of their homes, especially my elderly customers.They were scared,uncertain, and some were really really scared. Honestly, I felt some apprehension myself…

The next day it struck me how important it was for me to continue on my appointed rounds in spite of our nation’s tragedy. One elderly customer on my route poked her head out the front door, and asked me if it was safe to come outside yet? She thanked me for making her feel better. After all, if it was business as usual delivering the mail, then maybe the worst had passed.

This was the proudest time of my postal career even with the Anthrax threats that followed. It was then in 2001,the postal service revamped their slogan to include 911 and reiterate our steadfast service ;

” We are mothers and fathers. And sons and daughters. Who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.”

This morning I watched this heart-wrenching footage of the attack and aftermath on YouTube, and the past came rushing in, with goosebumps and all. It is an amazing video, so I want to share it with you.

So often we take life and freedom for granted. Do you recall where you were?, what you were doing?, how you reacted?, and any profound impact 911 made on your life? I would love to share your story. You are welcome to leave a reply, your email will not be displayed. Hope to hear from you!

Bye for now,
Penny