20 Years Ago Today.....

I was running late for my AM Mass Comm class at BSC...it was the beginning of my Senior Year in college. Mike was home on unemployment because the dream company he was working for, suddenly closed a few weeks prior. 

I was about to jump into the shower....when he tells me from the couch that a plane just hit the World Trade Center....oh no....sadness....we assume it's an accident....I remember stepping into the shower, sad for those lives lost...but feeling no fear. 

When I got out.....he tells me ANOTHER plane has hit.....sudden fear immediately hits us both. We are under attack. Simply put.

I go to the bedroom and put on the tv while quickly getting dressed and watch the rest of the nightmare unfold on the local news channel. 

Do I go to school? Afraid to miss another class....I head out for the 20 minute commute to Bridgewater. Need a reliable news source....I scour the radio dial in my car for AM news talk..... realize halfway to school, I never ate breakfast...so I swing into BK on 24 north and grab a breakfast sandwich and coffee while my ear is glued to WBZ news.

I arrive to campus and it's different. The vibe is strange. A sort of uncertainty. Some fear, some confusion. I walk to the campus center....and learn that classes have been cancelled for the rest of the day. Upstairs and downstairs, students are glued in groups around the TV's hanging from the walls....watching in disbelief. 

I stand around and watch some for a bit...but can't take much more...so I head to the campus radio station....WBIM. My space. It's quiet. Not sure what our duties are in this situation as a college station....do we provide news? Do we try to lighten the mood with music? Or should we go silent? 

I mill around the station for a bit....then wander around campus. I don't want to go home just yet. Check my email in the computer lab...which is eerily pretty empty for a late Tuesday morning.

Already, the blame is well broadcasted to the World. I suddenly feel some concern for the safety of my favorite Professor...whom is also my Mass Comm Advisor....he has a thick middle eastern accent and name....and people are quick to point fingers and categorize people when fear strikes. (A few days later he will email us.... letting us know him and his family are scared, but ok...and he will eventually return a week or so later, when fears somewhat calm down).

I don't remember much else...like, when I left campus....or where else I went. I just remember feeling a bit panicked....are we safe? Will more places be attacked? The tv news was so horrible to watch and it was inescapable. 

The days following were bittersweet. American flags everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Patriotism at its peak. I recall driving down 44 to the Plymouth Registry of Deeds for my PT job ...and off to the side of the road, a flag hanging super high in the air off a construction crane.

A day or a few later...cant recall the timeframe.....i just remember the bustling workplace suddenly quiet ...as we all participated in a moment of silence at the registry....the entire building bowing their heads in silence along with the rest of the country. 

20 Years have gone by since. So many people should have been 20 Years older...but never got the chance. So sorry. So, very sorry. 

You are not forgotten.