September 11th will forever be a solemn day of remembrance after what happened in 2001. We live in the greatest country in the world and we need to be more respectful and appreciative of that every day, not just on Independence Day and September 11th. Every day.
I still get choked up thinking about 9-11-01. My stepmother was an active flight attendant for TWA at that time. I was an elementary principal in West Point, Nebraska with two daughters that were 8 and 6 and a 1-year old son. When I first heard of the planes crashing into the twin towers, I tried to call my step mom to see if she was home. About a half hour went by before I could verify that she was NOT flying that day and that she was safe.
I will never forget Charlene Recker, an awesome 2nd grade teacher, at WPES. Her son was in the Pentagon that day. She came into the office pretty shook up, obviously. I covered her class for a while as she tried to contact him to see if he was ok. As I remember it, an hour or so went by and Charlene had no verification if he was or wasn't ok. She came back to class. A little while later, I answered the phone in my office and it was her son calling to tell her that he was ok. I will never forget the pure relief and joy that Charlene had as I handed her the phone. It touched my heart.
The next day, we gathered all of our K-5th grade students into the gym and told them that they are "safe" and that we're going to be ok. This was the message First Lady Bush encouraged us to tell all children. It was an emotional time. I held it together during the "assembly" but balled like a baby in my office for about 30-minutes afterwards with the door shut.
We shall never forget the victims of 9-11-01. We continue to mourn the lives of so many that left us way too soon.
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