What were you doing when...?

It's one of those questions that I know will be asked of me when the boys get older. It's one of those questions that will be inevitable in time, such as "what were you doing when Kennedy was shot?" back in my parents' day. In my day, there's the question of "what were you doing when the terrorists attacks happened?"

So what was I doing?

7:30am Central time. It was during the time we lived in Omaha, NE. I had the Today show on in the living room mostly as background noise while I got ready for work each morning. I worked at Pinnacle Bank and usually didn't start until 9am so I took my time getting ready.

I remember being in the bathroom getting my make up on when the first plane hit. I remember Matt Lauer was doing some interview with someone and when I came back to the living room they were showing something about a plane. At the time they thought it was an accident. In typical fashion like watching a train wreck, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen, realizing something big just happened. While still keeping tabs on what was going on, I continued to get ready.

Then the second plane hit as I sat on the couch watching in horror. It was like watching something out of an action movie, only it was real. It was surreal. That's when everyone knew it was not a coincidence.

I continued watching the news until it was time to leave for work. When I got to work everyone was talking about it. It was a Tuesday and the bank was always slow on Tuesdays, but that day it was even more so. The customers that did come in had no idea what was going on on the East Coast. My manager brought in the TV from the employee room to the lobby so we could all watch and keep tabs on what was happening. I think we all knew back then that we were watching some major history in the making. We all watched in horror as the Towers fell, killing thousands of people.

I had a half day that day since I had to work on Saturday, so I came home at 1pm. I received a few phone calls from my mom and some friends checking up to make sure we were all ok. Bob called to also tell me (in excitement) that Air Force One flew right over him! President Bush had been flying around to stay safe and apparently ended up landing at the Air Force Base Omaha, near where Bob worked. It was quite the sight for him!

The rest of the day I spent watching the news, trying to hear as much of it as I could.

This day was also mine and Bob's second wedding anniversary. We had plans to go out to eat that night at a nice restaurant and spend an evening celebrating 2 years of marriage. Unfortunately that didn't happen as the entire city pretty much shut down in light of the circumstances. It made for a pretty crappy anniversary. Even the next few years we didn't have the heart to celebrate, knowing thousands of people lost their lives.

The attacks scared me for many months afterward. I heard lots of talk of war, and was concerned of a draft. Bob was prime material at the time for a draft, and I was terrified of losing him. We were also looking at starting a family during this time (I believe we had started trying right around this time) and I was worried about what kind of world I'd be bringing my children into. I rethought the decision to have a family.

It was a very uncertain time.