the Tuesday the world changed

6 years ago today I was sitting down to do a little grading in front of Good Morning America.

I was in Red Sate -- in an apartment quite close to where hubby 'lives' during the week.

Looking up, I saw blurry footage of the first plane going in.

It was a beautiful early-fall day.

It was a terrifying early-fall day.

Some basic things I remember:

• Seeing our old on-base neighborhood on TV being guarded -- by guys in Humvees holding GUNS. We'd moved out about a month before.
  
• The President stopping at our Air Force base as a safe place. Seeing the local folk's film on the national feed -- and realizing that he was in the same building where hubby used to work.
• Hubby and I waited nervously for his last few days in the military to pass --we were afraid that he'd be "stop-lossed", and wouldn't be able to finish his education as we'd planned.
• Phone calls from family and friends. They were concerned about our general safety and hubby's military status. More than a few of my friends and close family expressed deep relief to hear he was almost out of the military.
• Our debate friends gathered at our place for companionship and comfort. We had both TVs on news stations and two computers with high-speed internet, so we could get the latest information. Rumor has it that the Individual Events (speech) squad also gathered someplace to watch events unfold on MTV-news.
  
• The silence when air travel stopped and the roar when it started again.
• The fact that our Muslim neighbors stopped playing soccer, tennis and other games in the apartment courtyard at dusk.

There is no doubt in my mind that Tuesday September 11 changed the world.

What didn't change is that I still have grading to do on a beautiful Tuesday in September. I suppose some things never change.