Where were you?

The morning of September 11, 2001, I woke up in my house in Taylorsville, Utah (a suburb of SLC). I was working for Child Protective Services at the time and sharing a house with 2 friends. It was typical for me to have The Today Show on while I got ready. I was half listening and doing my hair as they started talking about receiving reports that a plan had struck one of the towers. They were showing the towers, smoke billowing out of one, as I watched the 2nd plane hit the other tower. I cried a bit and stayed glued to the TV until I absolutely had to leave for work. When I got the office, we couldn't find a TV or radio anywhere in the building so we went to a coworkers nearby home and just sat in front of the TV all morning. I had a good friend living in DC at the time so after the Pentagon got hit I called him to check in. I remember us not having much to say on the phone. We just sat there, me crying and him speechless. The whole day felt so surreal. A thousand miles from Ground Zero, I still felt like my whole day moved in slow motion. I hated seeing the news footage of people trying to escape those burning towers but there was also so much brotherly kindness among those New Yorkers... I'm used to seeing them hurriedly walking down the street without even acknowledging each other. I really loved the way our nation pulled together for a while. The days after 9/11 were patriotism at it's finest.