Where were you on September 11, 2001?

It's been 10 years since that awful day we now refer to as 9/11.  Where were you?  That's the question of our generation....much like my parents was "Where were you when JFK was shot"?  On 9/11/01 I was just about to get up to get my kids off to school when the phone rang.  It was my mom, she said to turn the news on.  When we turned the TV on we saw a split screen of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and we sat speechless as we watched the second plane fly into the north tower.  Unbelievable.

I was scheduled to help my cousin move from the San Fernando Valley to Corona that day.  After talking it over, we decided to go ahead.  What I remember as I drove through LA was the eerie silence.  We get so used to the air noise of helicopters, planes etc and to hear absolutely nothing was terrifying.  One of those times when the silence is deafening.
I think for me September 12 was worse, mostly because I didn't have anything to do.  I remember being glued to the news for most of the day.  We had my cousin, her husband and friends from the neighborhood over for dinner, the wine was flowing, it was one of the few times when I had to put my husband to bed.
  
I've always been one of those people who get teary eyed during the Star Spangled Banner (especially when my daughter Jade sings it).  I used to get so upset as a teenager when our cross-town rivals who were "the Braves" used to sing at the end of the national anthem "and the home of the braves"....ugh would make me so mad.  Now when I hear the National Anthem, from almost the first 5 words I'm in tears, and if you've actually heard all three verses it means more:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!



My prayer now is that we will always remember.  God have mercy on us that we would ever forget and take our freedom for granted.
  
We are the land of the free because of the brave men and women who sacrifice their lives for us every day via military, fire department, police, ambulance and paramedics.   Thank you for your service, today and everyday.  God bless you and God bless America.