8 years ago today...

[texas*princess]

It's so crazy how vividly I can remember 9/11, but I can't even remember what I wore a week ago.

I remember it was a Tuesday. I didn't wake up in time for my 8 am class, so I figured I would go to my 9:30 class which was Poli-Sci. I got to class a few minutes before class started and our professor wasn't there yet. My friend Michelle - who I had known since Jr. High- sat in front of me in Poli-Sci class. As soon as I sat down, she said "Did you hear?" And I asked "hear about what?" "The planes.." she said and just in that moment my professor hurriedly walked in. He was an older man - tall & skinny with white hair. He had this weird crazy look in his eyes and before my friend Michelle could say anything else or finish her sentence, he told us to get our belongings because we were going to the student union building.

No one said a word on our way to the Union. I still didn't fully understand what was going on.

When we got to the Union, all of the people who were normally hanging out there playing pool or just hanging out were all gathered in a room. The TV there wasn't working, so everyone sat there silently listening to the radio over the speakers. We heard when the towers fell.

I remember my professor saying "this is going to be a war" over and over. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was a college sophomore then, and I had so many HS friends of mine that joined the military out of high school. People were crying.. it was pretty surreal.

That afternoon I went into the college radio station for my DJ shift. What was normally a fun experience was so awkward. What the hell do I do? What do I say? We didn't play music. We had a feed from a sister station that was all-news. I'd cut out occasionally for commercials or to do the time/temp/station ID. I remember after 9/11 being handed a list of songs I couldn't play on the radio due to the senstivity of the whole 9/11 thing. It was just so weird.

That night, there was a social in my residence hall. I was an RA and helped plan it with another RA.

Instead of doing the activities that we had planned for our social event, we gathered around the TV and watched G.W. Bush's speech. There were so many tears. We were near a military base and I think everyone there knew at least one or two people that would be shipped off.

It was a really sad day.