9/11

Today cannot pass without being remembered as one of the most shocking for our family. We were living in Lexington, South Carolina. I’d taken our younger children to school and gone on to see an ex-pat friend who needed help with some sewing tasks. She was standing at the ironing board when her husband rang and screamed that she must turn on the tv. We watched in horror. Their son was flying in that day and the sound that came from her was nothing short of primeval. Immediately the schools went into lock-down and we were kept updated by the ticker running across the screen. She drove hundreds of miles to meet up with her son who’s plane was diverted to land faraway. I drove to school and witnessed every child being held by an adult – lunch ladies, janitors, librarians and teachers – all held on to as many children as they could. Every child was handed to their parent/carer that day. The atmosphere of shock was dreadful. So many families had someone directly affected by the horrors of that day. Tears are falling even now, as I remember that awful day twenty years later.