September 11th

Can you believe it's been over 10 years? It feels very surreal to me. 9/11 feels recent and distant at once, yet almost omnipresent - maybe that's how all great tragedies are.

Where were you the morning the towers fell? I was in the shower in Southern California, getting ready for school, when the first plane hit. By the time the towers actually fell I was sitting in a towel, in front of the TV in my mom's room, watching wide-eyed as people's lives literally came crashing down.

At first I was just confused, had this actually happened? What did it mean? What was next? Would we go to war? I was 17, all my male friends were about to turn 18 - would they be drafted? Luckily, no, they wouldn't be drafted, but that didn't prevent many of them from signing up and going overseas under false pretense anyway. Eventually, I got myself to school and sat with my peers as we collectively tried to absorb the enormity of what had just happened.

Now, I feel a lingering sadness, like an emotional bruise that you accidentally bump every once in a while. I was lucky, my family was safe and far from the actual danger. My heart truly goes out to all that were directly affected.

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