9/11

This is a date I will never ignore. We were living in Lexington, South Carolina, hubby was working in Manchester, New Hampshire. I’d taken the children to school and was helping an ex-pat friend make fabric pelmets for the tops of the windows in her rented house. Standing at the ironing board, the phone rang. It was her husband “Put the news on” I could hear him shout. She did and we watched in absolute horror as the second plane ploughed into the tower. She screamed. Their son was on a flight from England, was that his plane? She spent hours trying to find out where he was and thankfully his flight had been diverted to somewhere far away and she drove to collect him much later that day. I went home and turned on the TV. A ticker ran across the screen with updates of the school plans. They were locked down until it was considered safe to reopen, then every child came out of the door holding the hand of an adult – lunch ladies,teachers, caretakers, office staff, the school nurse… every one held on to at least two children. I remember phoning my parents in England, but I could barely talk. A terrible day.