September 11

I have been wanting to post about Grace's first day of school; however, I thought it would be cuter if I could include a picture from her first day. But, it's been such a busy week - meetings, late nights working, school homework for Grace, getting up with Abigail at 5:30 a.m. - that there has not been time to upload a picture! And I have been so busy that I didn't have time to reflect on today - September 11.

It didn't hit me until I was driving back to my office from a meeting I was at downtown this afternoon. The highway was closed because of a procession to the Pentagon, the streets downtown were clogged and the flags were at half-staff. It was drizzling, cloudy, dark and windy. Not at all like the day eight years ago.

I just read a post that my friend Fannie put on her blog. She has an incredible way of painting pictures with her words. She said "the day was crystalline eight years ago"- what a great word! Fannie and Tim were living in Texas at the time but I would describe the day in Arlington, VA using the exact same word - crystalline.

I was working from home in 2001. I had just opened the window in our little house. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, the sun was warm but the air had a cool fall feeling. I turned on the Today Show and heard about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. And then I watched in horror as the second plane hit. I called Bruno, who was at work at the House office building across from the Capitol. We couldn't believe what was happening. We hung up and I continued to watch the news coverage.

Then suddenly the Today Show reported that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. I called Bruno immediately and he had not even heard the news about the Pentagon. He decided to leave work right away and luckily beat all of the traffic leaving DC. I finally got a hold of my cousin Kerri (cell phone coverage was very spotty) who was also working on Capitol hill and she was headed to a friend's house downtown. There were rumors of another plane headed for the White House or the Capitol. And now we know that thanks to the bravery of some incredibly heoric people, that plane never made it to its final destination.

I couldn't wait for Bruno to get home. He didn't have a cell phone and this was before everyone had a blackberry so I just had to sit and wait. I stood outside waiting for him and realized that I couldn't hear any planes in the air (they had shut down all air traffic)... the only noise in the beautiful blue sky was the sound of fighter jets patrolling the sky.

When Bruno came home we just hugged each other for a very long time in complete disbelief of what had happened. Of course our efforts immediately went to making sure our family and friends who worked in NYC and at the Pentagon were safe - it would be hours before we would know for sure. And my parents were in Italy on the vacation of a lifetime, worried sick about how everyone was doing. Luckily we were able to communicate via e-mail as many of the phone lines in the DC area were jammed. We watched the towers fall and the side of the Pentagon burn.

I spent days just watching the TV - I just couldn't turn it off. It was surreal and scary. Eventually we turned the TV off and eventually we would drive by the Pentagon to see the horrific hole in the side of a building that symbolizes the strength of this country.

I will never, ever forget moments from that day. And I will never forget what a beautiful morning it started out to be.

Our prayers and hearts go out to those who lost loved ones on that fateful day.