Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning That September Day

I think most of us will agree that Alan Jackson said it best with the song he wrote paying tribute to the horrific events of September 11th, 2001. Now ten years later for some looking back and answering where they were on that September day is tougher than others. Those close to the events that unfolded that Tuesday morning, and especially those who lost and witnessed loss have to live with those things everyday. For the rest of us, we moved on, didn’t forget necessarily, but eventually got on with our lives. Now ten years later we remember the events of that terrible day, those lost, and where we were that sunny, black early September Tuesday morning. It is almost an overused phrase anymore, but we often hear people saying “you will remember what you were doing when this happened.” For some it can be a simple things like a great sports game, or maybe where you picked up the phone call saying you got the big job. Then there are major events where everyone who was old enough to remember knows where they were that day without even thinking about it. In my lifetime there is not another event that this is true.

So, where was I? I was just starting my freshman year of high school, and we had what they then called E.L.O., which was an opportunity to go in and get help from teachers if you needed it before classes started every other day, or if you were like me, a chance to sleep in. Back then not too many folks had cell phones, and no high school freshman had them, so when the house phone kept ringing I was getting quite upset with “salesperson” calling over and over interrupting my sleep. Finally, I decided I go answer so they would stop calling, and it was my step-mom, who instantly gave me that upset vibe. She told me that I might need to go hide in the basement because the country was being attacked, and they had just got the White House (don’t you love the old telephone effect). I quickly busted into tears and started calling people like my grandma, without even turning the TV on first, to tell them I loved them in case we were lost. After over scaring the people I called, I turn the TV on just in time to watch the first tower collapse live. After watching the 2nd tower fall it was time for school, and the whole day, actually week or month probably,  was spent watching coverage. I was working at a bowling alley at the time, and that night I worked which I vaguely remember, but I know everyone who came in that night was just in shock asking questions and talking about what happens next. Then on my way home, the last thing I remember from the day was all the people in line filling huge drums with gas at the stations in fear that it would either be unavailable, or they extremely expensive.

Only two months after that horrible day Alan Jackson came on stage at the CMA’s and asked us all the question that we can still answer ten years later… “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)?”